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HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 


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o 
X 


HOW  ENGLAND  IS 
GOVERNED 


BY 

RT.  HON.  C.  F.  G.  MASTERMAN 

Parliamentary  Secretary  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
1908-9;  Under  Secretary  for  the  Home  Department,  1909-12; 
Financial  Secretary  to  the  Treasury,  1912-14;  Chancellor  of 
the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  etc.  Member  of  British  Cabinet, 
1914-15. 


NEW     YORK 

ALFRED  •  A  •  KNOPF 

MCMXXII 


COPYRIGHT,  192fc  BY 
C.  F.  G.  MASTERMAN 

Published,  January,  J922 


.:// 


^fet  up  ond  printed  by  the  Vail-Battou  Co.,  Binghamton,  N.  T. 
Paper  furnished  by  W.  F.  Etherington  &  Co.,  New  York,  N.  T. 
Bound  by  the  H.  Wolff  Estate,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


MANUFACTURED    IN    THE     UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE   TO   THE   AMERICAN  EDITION  ix 

PREFACE  xiii 

PART  I 
THE  MAKING  OF  A  CITIZEN 

CHAPTER 

I     THE  CHILD  ENCOUNTERS  LAW  1 

II     THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  10 

III  THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  His   RULERS  22 

PART  II 
THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  CITY 

IV  LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  AND  THEIR  HISTORY  47 
V     How  THE  CITY  is  GOVERNED  67 

(a)      THE  POWER  OF  THE  COUNCIL  67 

(6)     THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  COUNCIL  75 

(c)     THE  WORKING  OF  THE  COUNCIL  80 

(rf)      THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  83 

VI     LITTLE   LAWS   AND   LOCAL   LAWS  99 

VII     How  HE  PAYS  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  (RATES)          113 

VIII     How  LONDON  is  GOVERNED  141 

IX     THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  COUNTRY-SIDE  154 

X     THE  GUARDIANS  OF  THE  POOR  166 

v 


CONTENTS 

PART  III 
LAW   AND   JUSTICE 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XI     THE  Low  JUSTICE  175 

XII     THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  184 

PART  IV 
THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  NATION 

XIII     WESTMINSTER  199 

XIV     THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  214 

(a)     THE  REDRESSING  OF  GRIEVANCE  214 

(6)     THE  CONTROL  OF  EXPENDITURE  226 

(c)     THE  MAKING  OF  LAWS  246 

XV     How  HE  PAYS  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR   (TAXES)   264 

XVI     CONCLUSION  284 

INDEX  291 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT  FROM  THE  RIVER  Frontispiece 

IACINQ 
PAGE 

A  BALLOT  PAPER  USED  FOR  PARLIAMENTARY  ELECTIONS  33 

THE  TOWN  HALL  AT  BRADFORD  95 

A  BALLOT  PAPER  USED  FOR  COUNTY  COUNCIL  ELECTIONS  155 

THE  INTERIOR  OF  WESTMINSTER  HALL  205 

LAW  COURTS  OF  LONDON  271 


VII 


PREFACE   TO    AMERICAN    EDITION    OF 
HOW    ENGLAND    IS    GOVERNED 

I  hope  that  the  following  popular  account  of  British  Gov- 
ernment Institutions  may  be  found  useful  to  Students,  and 
interesting  to  the  General  Reader,  in  America.  They  are 
described  by  one  who  has  been  engaged  in  their  working,  and 
therefore  has  probably  better  experience  of  their  excellences 
and  deficiencies  than  the  professor  in  his  study. 

In  all  criticism  I  should  plead  for  the  memory  of  one  vital 
fact  which  I  have  emphasized  in  the  last  chapter  of  the 
book,  but  which  I  would  like  also  to  place  at  the  beginning. 
These  are  systems  and  institutions  which  are  the  inheritance 
of  an  enormous  past.  They  go  back  in  tradition,  and  in 
many  cases  in  law,  behind  the  actual  building  of  (say)  the 
banqueting  hall  of  William  II  or  the  choir  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  studded  with  the  tombs  of  half-legendary  kings. 

They  may  be  the  best  institutions  or  they  may  be  the  worst 
in  the  world.  But  the  common  law  and  the  systems  of  pop- 
ular Government  have  passed  from  this  little  England  into 
vast  dominions  occupying  whole  Continents.  The  late  Mr. 
Page  in  his  letters  to  President  Wilson,  emphasized  the 
greenness  of  the  English  grass  and  the  complacency  and 
sleepiness  of  English  attitude  towards  reform.  The  charges, 
though  in  humourous  form,  are  correct.  It  takes  strong 
miseries  and  agitations  and  often  the  experience  of  fear  of 
suffering  or  revolution  to  effect  in  these  any  essential  change. 
Britain  has  never  had  an  Abbe  Sieyes.  It  has  never  had 
an  Alexander  Hamilton.  It  has  remained  quiescent  until 
some  plague  or  famine  or  corruption — the  plague  of  Cholera, 

ix 


x  PREFACE 

the  famine  made  by  food  taxation,  the  revelation  of  munici- 
pal corruption — has  compelled  it,  almost  against  its  will,  to 
take  action.  Then  it  has  taken  action  drastically — crash- 
ing through  all  vested  interests  and  submerging  whole  classes. 
And  then  it  has  gone  to  sleep  again. 

No  one,  I  think,  but  a  madman  would  impose  upon  a  new 
country  the  exact  municipal  and  Parliamentary  institutions 
which  direct  today  the  Government  of  England.  As  I 
have  said  later,  the  apparatus  resembles  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  the  countryside  and  city  congestion.  Here  a  narrow 
lane  chokes  up  a  great  avenue  of  locomotion.  There  a 
town  consists  entirely  of  winding,  irregular  labyrinths  of 
tiny  streets.  Old  decayed  buildings  block  up  or  disfigure 
the  new  places  of  rich  residence :  and  some  of  the  worst  slums 
in  the  world  nestle  beneath  English  Cathedrals  or  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  British  Parliament.  Occasionally 
attempts  are  made  to  "straighten  out"  these  material  dis- 
orders, just  as  attempts  are  made  to  "strengthen  out"  the 
Constitutional  anomalies.  But  these  are  never  forced 
through  and  finished  complete.  Jagged  edges  always  re- 
main, and  around  these  jagged  edges  gathers  a  further 
accumulation  of  things  which  intelligence,  were  it  allowed 
complete  domination,  would  not  endure  for  a  moment. 

The  chief  differences,  as  they  appear  to  me,  between  the 
British  and  American  Constitutions  may  be  briefly  sum- 
marized. We  have  no  "States"  and  no  "State  rights" — 
only  an  hereditary,  though  largely  nominated,  Senate  and  a 
popularly  elected  House  of  Representatives.  We  have  no 
"Constitution"  at  all  in  the  American  sense :  nothing  written : 
with  no  Supreme  Court  to  declare  legislation  ultra  vires. 
The  House  of  Commons — although  the  people  do  not  know  it 
— is  absolute,  and  through  Ministers  responsible  to  it  could 
decree  any  law  it  pleased  however  unjust  or  insane.  The 


PREFACE  xi 

Prime  Minister  however  has  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  coun- 
try by  dissolving  House  of  Commons:  This,  and  the 
threat  of  it,  is  an  immense  weapon  of  terrorism  or  persuasion 
in  his  hands. 

We  have  no  functionary  corresponding  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  The  idea  still  widely  prevalent,  that  the 
King  of  England  possesses  any  political  power  apart  from 
his  Ministers  is  an  illusion.  Presidents  of  America  write 
their  own  inaugurals  and  messages  to  Congress.  Every 
important  declaration  of  policy — including  all  "King's 
Speeches" — are  written  in  England  by  the  Ministers,  who 
are  responsible  to  Parliament.  Again  there  is  a  fundamen- 
tal difference  in  the  fact  that  the  President  chooses  Minis- 
ters and  a  Cabinet  outside  the  Senate  and  Congress.  In 
England  Ministers  must  be  chosen  from  the  House  of  Lords 
or  Commons  and  defend  themselves  from  criticism  in  these 
assemblies,  The  tremendous  power  given  by  a  plebiscite 
Election  of  a  President  for  four  years  practically  irremov- 
able is  unknown  in  an  England  which  perhaps  in  this  re- 
spect is  more  democratic  than  America. 

I  am  not  now  endeavouring  to  balance  which  is  the  worse 
or  the  better  of  the  two  systems.  America  has  not  been 
benefited — or 'handicapped — by  a  Landed  Aristocracy,  trac- 
ing its  descent  for  a  thousand  years,  and  fighting  tena- 
ciously for  any  privilege  it  may  have  acquired  in  that  time. 
It  is  true  this  Landed  Aristocracy  has  largely  disappeared 
in  the  War,  and  its  place  in  politics  been  taken  by  commer- 
cial and  financial  magnates  more  of  the  type  which  manage 
American  politics.  But  the  force  of  the  Land  and  Land 
ownership  is  still  strong,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  these 
new  rich  who  purchase  the  old  Estates  may  assimilate  to  the 
older  types.  We  have  no  straight  roads,  no  large  open  fields 
undivided  by  fences.  Half  the  land  consists  of  hedges, 


xii  PREFACE 

woods  and  gardens,  in  the  main  unproductive.     So  with  the 
various  machinery  of  the  Government  of  England. 

In  any  case  the  most  important  thing  in  the  world  at 
present  is  that  Britain  and  America  should  understand 
each  other.  I  should  welcome  the  widest  circulation  in  Eng- 
land of  a  book  on  these  lines  demonstrating  "How  America  is 
Governed."  And  I  hope  that  this  work  will  also  make  a 
little  in  America  for  understanding  and  sympathy  between 
the  great  English  speaking  races  of  the  world. 

C.  F.  G.  MASTERMAN. 


PREFACE 

I  have  here  endeavoured  to  give  a  readable  and  intelligible 
account  of  how  England  is  governed. 

There  are  many  elaborate  text-books  on  the  subject, 
bulky  in  volume,  full  of  interest  and  of  detail.  They  are 
written  by  experts.  They  provide  explanation  of  all  ex- 
ceptions and  anomalies.  They  are  indispensable  as  works 
of  reference.  There  are  also,  I  am  informed,  many  little 
books  on  "civics,"  usefully  provided  for  middle  forms  in 
schools,  which  furnish  those  summaries  of  fact  which  are 
needed  for  the  exposition  of  the  teacher.  Some  of  them  are 
accurate  and  admirable.  Others  unfortunately  reduce  the 
subject  to  the  same  level  of  dreariness  as  the  average  text- 
book of  history  or  mathematics.  This  is,  in  the  main,  due 
to  the  character  of  the  subject,  rather  than  to  any  defects 
on  the  part  of  the  writer.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  make 
any  small  and  summarized  survey  of  history  interesting; 
just  as  it  is  difficult  to  make  any  large  and  detailed  account 
of  any  small  section  of  men's  astonishing  record  dull.  So, 
while  the  author  who  can  describe  how  his  country  is  gov- 
erned with  sufficient  space  for  simile  and  illustration  is 
open  to  the  charge  of  ineptitude  if  he  cannot  make  this  pal- 
atable to  any  eager  and  interested  mind,  the  compression 
into  a  school  text-book  of  the  bald  facts  of  local  and  national 
Government,  without  exciting  a  distaste  for  the  subject 
in  the  growing  mind,  must  accompany  something  in  the  na- 
ture of  genius  in  exposition. 

I  make  no  such  claim  for  this  volume.  I  have  sought 

xiii 


xiv  PREFACE 

the  easier  course  of  a  middle  way.  I  have  allowed  myself 
sufficient  space  to  enable  the  plain  details  to  be  cheered  by 
illustration  and  personal  reminiscence.  And  at  the  same 
time  I  have  swept  away  all  attempt  to  cover  the  subject  in 
exhaustive  detail.  I  have  endeavoured  to  avoid  the  arid- 
ness  of  the  presentation  of  detailed  lumps  of  fact,  sound,  but 
a  little  indigestible.  And  I  have  laid  myself  open  to  the 
charge — as  I  frankly  acknowledge — of  making  sweeping 
statements  which,  though  as  I  believe,  are  true  in  themselves, 
yet  require  an  elaboration  of  notes  and  exceptions  for 
particular  cases,  if  a  complete  and  exhaustive  account  is  to 
be  given  of  the  chaotic  and  complicated  operation  of  Eng- 
lish municipal  and  national  Government. 

I  have,  that  is  to  say,  obtained  space  for  the  luxuries 
of  digression,  illustration,  and  the  record  of  personal  ex- 
perience, by  frankly  throwing  over  any  effort  to  provide 
an  authoritative  detailed  book  of  reference.  I  could  imagine 
svhotle  pages  and  chapters  receiving  .criticism  because  I 
have  not  been  able  to  find  space  for  putting  in  every  ex- 
ception, or  variation,  or  queer  individual  survival  which 
makes  in  special  cases  divergence  from  the  average  admin- 
istration as  I  have  described  it.  Had  I  attempted  this,  the 
volume  must  have  swollen  to  twice  its  bulk  and  a  large 
amount  of  the  actual  narrative  submerged  by  reference  to 
complicated  records  and  clauses  of  Bills  and  descriptions; 
of  how  while  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  authorities  can 
do  this,  the  hundredth  can  only  do  that.  Such  an  attempt 
would  merely  have  made  this  book  a  challenge  to  authorities 
already  accepted,  for  which  I  have  neither  time  nor  inclina- 
tion. 

Those  who  wish  to  obtain  more  detailed  knowledge  on 
these  subjects  may  be  referred  to  the  writers  and  students 
who  have  already  provided  them  with  what  they  desire:  to 


PREFACE  xv 

such  works,  for  example,  as  "Local  Government  in  England," 
by  Redlich  and  Hirst ;  or  "The  Government  of  England,"  by 
Professor  Lowell;  or  the  late  Lord  Courtney's  "The  Work- 
ing Constitution  of  the  United  Kingdom";  Professor 
Ashley  on  Government  in  England,  France,  and  America; 
or  the  works  of  Sir  Sidney  Low.  Or,  for  historic  treatment, 
such  volumes  of  permanent  value  as  those  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hammond  on  the  Town  and  the  Country  Labourer;  or  the 
History  of  Local  Government,  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney 
Webb. 

The  following  chapters  are  less  the  product  of  the  study 
than  of  the  laboratory.  As  member  of  lesser  civic  organi- 
zations, later  of  Parliament,  of  the  Government,  and  of  the 
Cabinet,  I  have  had  experience  of  the  practical  working  of 
the  "machine."  By  a  curious  coincidence  I  have  actually 
served  in  the  great  Central  Offices  which  are  specially  con- 
cerned with  the  Government  of  England — national  and  lo- 
cal: the  old  Local  Government  Board,  the  Home  Office,  and 
the  Treasury.  I  have  seen  the  machine  from  outside  and 
from  inside :  from  outside,  as  a  critic  of  the  Central  Author- 
ity from  amongst  the  local  municipal  authorities,  or  as  an 
independent  Private  Member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
challenging  the  Administration;  from  inside,  as  part  of 
that  Central  Authority  replying  to  the  local  criticism,  or 
as  a  Member  of  the  Government  defying  or  placating  the 
attacks  of  the  Private  Member.  Perhaps  this  experience 
may  put  colour  and  interest  into  an  account  of  organization 
otherwise  of  necessity  tending  to  dullness  and  drabness,  and 
help  to  make  the  "dry  bones  live." 

My  main  object  has  been  to  endeavour  to  interest  the  cit- 
izen in  the  conduct  of  his  own  affairs.  I  have  had  in  my 
mind  especially  as  possible  readers  the  classes  who  are  just 
realizing  what  citizenship  means — the  students  in  colleges 


xvi  PREFACE 

and  the  higher  forms  of  schools,  the  men  and  women  of  the 
Universities,  and  that  rapidly  growing  class  of  young  Intel- 
lectual Labour  which  to-day  is  breaking  through  the  former 
disability  of  poverty  and  discomfort,  and  is  eagerly  seeking 
knowledge  of  the  government  of  this  country,  with  a  view  to 
future  active  participation  in  it. 

Lastly,  I  need  hardly  explain  that  I  have  endeavoured — 
and  I  hope  with  success — to  keep  every  kind  of  political  pre- 
dilections out  of  these  pages.  To  introduce  controversy  or 
to  attempt  insidious  propaganda  would  be  to  violate  the 
whole  intention  of  the  book. 

It  is  essential  that  men  should  learn  to  think  at  all,  before 
they  can  think  wisely.  It  is  essential  that  men  should  be 
stimulated  to  interest  in  the  subject,  before  they  can  learn  to 
think  on  it  at  all.  To-day  this  country  needs  thinkers  far 
more  than  partisans.  Never  has  active  concern  in  munici- 
pal and  national  life  been  so  low — numbed  by  the  experience 
of  five  years  of  war.  If  this  volume  can  stimulate  any  in- 
crease in  the  actual  consideration  of  these  problems  of  civi- 
lized society  and  their  solution,  it  will  not  have  been  written 
in  vain. 

C.  F.  G.  MASTERMAN. 


PART  I 
THE  MAKING  OF  A  CITIZEN 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  CHILD  ENCOUNTERS  LAW 

He  comes  into  a  world  which  shows  no  special  joy  at  his 
advent;  "without  asking  hurried  hither  whence."  As  con- 
sciousness grows,  and  the  sense  of  being  "I"  as  against  "not 
I"  outside,  he  begins  to  learn  the  severe  limitations  of  his  be- 
ing. He  kicks  solid  substance,  and  receives  a  return  in  pain. 
He  stands  and  falls.  He  finds  that  pleasant  fire  burns  and 
water  leaves  him  cold.  He  passes  from  conflict  with  dead 
matter  to  conflict  with  human  will,  equally  unintelligible, 
equally  monstrous.  He  is  coerced  by  nurse  or  parent  into 
doing  things  which  he  sees  no  sense  in  doing;  or  refusing  to 
do  things  which  he  greatly  desires  to  do.  But  he  can 
traverse  many  years  from  childhood,  almost  into  growing 
youth,  and  long  after  blind  impulse  has  been  replaced  by  an 
appeal  to  reason,  much  of  which  he  can  understand,  before 
he  finds  that  compelling  influence  of  nurse  or  parent  or 
teacher  has  outside  and  beyond  it  another  force.  That 
force  sometimes  appears  altogether  irrational,  but  deadly 
in  its  operations;  the  restraint  of  the  individual  by  the  de- 
sire of  the  community  as  a  whole,  embodied  in  the  form  of 
Law. 

It  is  true  that  this  Law,  like  the  angels  of  childhood's 
dream,  has  been  watching  round  his  bed  since  his  first  ap- 
pearance in  the  world.  But  it  has  been  watching  vigilantly 
to  protect  him  against  evils  which,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
he  is  unlikely  ever  to  endure.  Within  forty-eight  hours 
after  his  arrival,  his  father,  and  the  doctor  or  nurse  who  has 

1 


2  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

assisted  his  entrance  into  the  world,  have  been  compelled  by 
law  to  notify  the  important  fact  of  his  appearance  to  an 
official  termed  the  Medical  Officer  of  Health  presiding  over 
the  district  in  which  he  lives.  In  reward  for  the  labour  of 
such  notification,  his  parents  will  probably  receive  a  litter  of 
pamphlets  explaining  what  food  he  should  be  given,  how  he 
should  be  washed  and  dressed,  and  what  are  the  best  methods 
for  securing  the  continuance  of  his  existence.  If  he  is  born 
of  a  poor  family,  his  home  will  probably  be  invaded  by  ladies 
who  are  called  Health  Visitors,  who  will  personally  instruct 
his  mother,  whether  she  wishes  to  hear  or  no,  on  the  things 
which  belong  unto  his  peace.  If  he  grows  up  under  normal 
conditions  all  is  well.  But  if  he  is  ill-treated,  or  starved,  or 
neglected,  or  too  excessively  punished  ,  other  officials  bear 
down  on  his  home,  and  hale  his  father  or  mother  away  for 
punishment  by  either  a  fine  or  imprisonment.  If  he  falls 
sick  of  an  infectious  disease,  he  is  torn  away  from  his  home 
by  the  omnipotent  agents  of  an  impersonal  Law,  and  trans- 
ferred to  a  hospital  with  others,  until  he  is  dead  or  cured. 
And  this  is  done  not  so  much  for  his  own  sake — for  if  the 
disease  is  not  infectious  the  Law  does  not  disturb  itself  about 
him  at  all — but  because  his  infection  is  a  nuisance  to  others 
who  may  catch  the  disease  from  him. 

And  more  and  more  as  he  grows  up  he  will  find  this 
strange  and  impersonal  power  of  "Law"  influencing  his  life 
in  two  directions :  the  one  endeavouring  to  protect  him  from 
evils  which  might  approach  him  from  outside;  the  other  en- 
deavouring to  cramp  his  activities  and  subdue  his  energies 
on  the  plea  and  pretence  that  these  are  a  nuisance  to  other 
people.  These  other  people,  as  he  thinks,  make  the  laws  in 
conformity  with  their  own  ideas  of  comfort,  indifferent  to 
the  expansive  impulse  of  a  growing  child. 

In  the  first  class,  for  example,  this  "Law"  determines  that, 


THE  CHILD  ENCOUNTERS  LAW  3 

from  the  age  of  five  upwards,  he  shall  be  a  regular  attendant 
at  some  national  or  private  school,  or  that  his  parents  shall 
satisfy  the  servants  of  the  Law  that  he  is  receiving  education 
for  the  battle  of  life.  If  his  parents  are  not  sending  him  to 
such  a  school,  or  giving  him  such  an  education,  or  seeing 
that  he  regularly  attends,  whether  he  himself  desires  to  or  no, 
or  whether  they  desire  him  to  or  no,  this  "Law,"  indifferent 
to  all  excuses,  pounces  upon  them,  and  continues  to  inflict 
penalties  upon  them  until  they  conform  to  its  demands. 

Again,  if  his  parents  are  so  poor  that  they  cannot  give  him 
adequate  food  or  shelter,  or  if  they  die  and  leave  him  alone 
in  the  world,  or  desert  him  and  disappear  with  a  similar  re- 
sult, the  Law  enters  into  his  life,  not  as  an  enemy  but  as  a 
friend.  It  provides  that  he  shall  not  be  left  to  die  of  hunger 
and  cold.  It  takes  his  life  under  its  protection.  It  feeds 
him,  and  lodges  liim,  and  teaches  him,  and  endeavours  to  send 
him  out  into  the  world  with  an  equipment  not  inferior  to  that 
which  he  might  have  obtained  had  the  calamity  not 
overwhelmed  him,  and  left  him  with  no  friends  but  this 
strange,  impersonal  force.  This  force  appears  outside  any 
human  control;  it  is  a  vague,  impersonal  thing  called  "the 
Law." 

But  nine-tenths  of  childhood  know  nothing  of  these  things. 
"The  Law"  enters  their  lives,  sometimes,  quite  suddenly,  as 
a  hostile  thing.  It  is  irrational.  It  is  often  cruel.  It 
appears  solely  designed,  as  far  as  they  can  understand,  to 
limit  harmless  activities,  and  to  render  actions  impossible 
which  no  moral  impulse  within  themselves  tells  them  are 
wrong.  In  the  country,  probably,  the  Law  will  first  appear 
to  the  growing  boy  as  the  prevention  of  "trespassing."  He 
can  walk  over  some  fields  and  not  over  other  fields.  He  can 
walk  along  a  path  through  fields  and  meadows  which  he 
will  come  to  know  later  as  being  a  "right  of  way."  He  is 


4  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

threatened  with  penalties  if  he  varies  his  course  by  a  hair's 
breadth  one  side  or  another  from  this  "right  of  way."  He 
will  find  when  he  is  grown  up  that  he  is  allowed  to  walk  on 
these  footpaths  over  privately  owned  land  simply  because, 
for  many  scores  or  hundreds  of  years,  men  and  women  have 
always  walked  on  these  footpaths  and  for  no  other  reason. 
And  he  will  find  everywhere  that  the  most  bitter  fights  have 
been  fought,  sometimes  leading  to  riot  and  bloodshed,  be- 
tween those  who  want  the  people  to  continue  to  have  the  right 
to  walk  over  these  paths,  and  some  owners  of  the  land  who 
wanted  to  deprive  them  of  that  right.  In  one  great  estate  a 
right  of  way  ran  through  the  park,  close  to  the  castle  of  a 
great  landlord;  and  the  landlord,  who  did  not  wish  to  see 
people  continually  passing  just  under  his  windows,  tried  to 
stop  the  "right  of  way."  But  "the  Law"  decided  that  the 
right  belonged  to  the  people.  Upon  which  the  landlord  said : 
"If  the  people  have  a  right  to  walk  through  my  park,  they 
have  no  right  to  see  my  castle."  And  he  put  up  two  great 
wooden  walls,  higher  than  a  man's  head,  one  each  side  of  the 
"right  of  way,"  so  that  the  people  could  see  neither  to  one 
side  nor  the  other,  but  walked  through  the  park  as  through  a 
kind  of  pipe  or  drain.  Thus,  though  he  completely  spoilt 
the  view  of  the  people,  he  also  completely  spoilt  the  view  of 
his  park.  This  is  what  men  do  who  are  angry  when  "the 
Law"  goes  against  them.1 

fc't  ••*"*•    Mf    -"• 

i  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  by  this  that  all,  or  even  any  substantial 
minority,  of  the  landlords  of  England  are  vigorous  in  enforcing  what- 
ever law  exists  against  trespassing.  But  I  remember  as  a  child 
wandering  into  the  country,  seeing  notices  asserting  "Spring-guns  set," 
or  "Man-traps  set,"  designed  to  terrify  the  boy  or  adult  into  limit- 
ing his  excursion  to  the  king's  highway.  And  one  of  the  first  states- 
men in  England  has  shown  me  the  actual  places  where  his  child-mind 
was  embittered  against  the  landlords  by  the  notices  "Trespassers  will 
be  prosecuted,"  set  up  over  woods  and  fields  which  the  young  mind 
was  determined  to  explore. 


THE  CHILD  ENCOUNTERS  LAW  5 

But  the  boy  will  also  find  paths  where  he  has  no  "right  of 
way,"  and  fields  that  he  cannot  cross,  and  gates  that  he  may 
not  open,  and  hedges  which  he  is  forbidden  to  creep  through, 
and  he  may  see  notices  put  up,  "Trespassers  will  be  prose- 
cuted," or  "Spring-guns  set,"  or  "Man-traps  set,"  and  he 
may  be  frightened  into  avoiding  these  regions.  Or  he  may 
trespass,  and  risk  the  consequences ;  and  he  may  be  turned  off 
from  the  land  where  he  thinks  he  is  doing  no  harm,  or  even 
threatened  with  prosecution  and  punishment.  He  does  not 
know  that  he  is  unlikely  to  be  punished  for  trespassing  un- 
less he  has  done  damage ;  and  not  then,  if  he  offers  to  pay  for 
the  damage  he  has  done. 

And  this  hostility  of  "the  Law"  to  him  gradually  grows  up 
in  a  number  of  ways  around  him,  until  he  comes  to  believe 
that  "the  Law"  is  only  a  great  instrument  for  the  protection 
of  the  rich  and  powerful,  and  the  oppression  of  the  poor. 
He  may  not  fish  in  rivers,  although  nothing  can  prevent  him 
fishing  in  the  sea.  And  he  cannot  understand  why,  if  he  may 
fish  in  the  sea,  he  may  not  fish  in  the  river  also.  He  may  not 
catch  hares  or  rabbits,  or  in  some  cases  take  birds*  eggs  at 
certain  times,  while  at  other  seasons  he  may.  He  cannot 
keep  a  dog  unless  he  pays  to  this  queer  thing  called  "the 
Law"  so  much  money  a  year,  not  for  the  expense  of  the 
dog,  but  just  for  permission  to  keep  a  dog.  But  he  can 
keep  many  cats  or  rabbits  or  guineapigs  without  "the  Law" 
interfering  at  all.  These  and  similar  restrictions  make  him 
wonder  what  sense,  if  any,  remains  behind  this  "Law." 

And  in  the  towns  "the  Law"  appears  to  the  growing  child 
still  more  incomprehensible  and  still  more  hostile.  The  po- 
liceman at  the  corner  represents  its  embodiment,  and  is  alter- 
nately his  enemy  and  his  friend.  At  one  time  this  police- 
man is  holding  back  the  traffic  of  the  street,  in  order  that  he 
may  pass  safely  across  the  road,  or  politely  telling  him  the 


6  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

direction  of  the  way  he  wants  to  go.  At  another  time  he  is 
pouncing  on  him  suddenly  for  smoking  a  cigarette,  or  play- 
ing at  marbles  or  games  of  cards  for  pennies,  or  making 
noises,  or  kicking  a  football,  or  even  larking  about  in  a  vio- 
lent fashion  on  the  pavement  because  he  is  "making  a 
nuisance"  of  himself.  For  all  such  things  "the  Law"  can 
fine  or  punish  him.  He  may  attempt  to  decorate  a  public 
bridge  or  building  with  illustrations  drawn  in  chalk,  which  he 
thinks  adds  greatly  to  its  beauty.  He  is  suddenly  hauled 
away  by  the  policeman  who  has  observed  his  artless  action, 
and  finds  himself  in  innocent  misery  in  the  clutch  of  "the 
Law." 

Sometimes  the  operations  of  this  Law  appear  entirely 
capricious  and  senseless.  This  is  often  due  to  the  fact  that 
"by-laws"  will  be  made  by  different  authorities  which  are  ad- 
jacent to  each  other,  by  which  an  offence  committed  in  one 
of  these  is  not  an  offence  in  the  other.  Thus,  a  few  years 
ago  (when  I  was  at  the  Home  Office)  some  of  the  Borough 
Councils  of  London  passed  by-laws  making  it  an  offence  to 
indulge  in  roller-skating  on  the  pavement.  Others  did  not. 
The  boundaries  between  these  Councils  ran  down  the  middle 
of  the  street.  The  youthful  roller-skater  was  therefore  per- 
plexed by  the  fact  that  if  he  pursued  his  wild  career  on  the 
pavement  on  one  side  of  the  road,  no  evil  could  befall  him. 
Whereas,  if  by  some  mischance  he  chose  the  opposite  pave- 
ment, he  was  committng  an  offence  for  which  he  might  be 
arrested  by  a  policeman,  and  subject  to  punishment. 

And  as  he  grows  older  he  continues  to  see  "the  Law"  for 
the  most  part  as  some  inhuman  impersonal  force,  outside  his 
control,  laying  down  impositions,  some  of  which  may  seem  to 
him  good,  some  evil,  but  all  of  them  as  if  contrived  by  a 
power  outside  himself  to  restrain  and  to  prohibit  things 
which  he  may  or  may  not  desire  to  do.  "Do  not  spit,  pen- 


THE  CHILD  ENCOUNTERS  LAW  7 

alty  forty  shillings,"  is  the  elegant  notice  appearing  in  his 
tram-car  or  railway  carriage.  Why  should  he  not  spit? 
And  why  is  the  penalty  forty  shillings?  And  who  is  to  im- 
pose the  penalty?  And  when?  And  how?  His  whole  life 
is  encompasssed  with  such  half-imbecile  commands  shouted 
at  him  from  printed  placards,  as  if  the  eye  of  some  strange 
monster  was  turned  on  to  him  and  watched  him  alike  in  dark- 
ness and  daylight,  "Do  not  enter  or  leave  a  train  in  motion, 
penalty  forty  shillings."  Why  should  he  not  enter  a  train  in 
motion?  He  always  enters  in  motion  a  bus  or  tram.  If 
there  is  a  funeral  it  is  his  own,  not  that  of  the  power  which 
shouts  behind  the  placard.  There  is  a  strange  mixture  of 
sense  and  nonsense  about  it  all,  as  if  it  were  designed  by  a  be- 
ing normally  insane,  but  disturbed  by  occasional  flashes  of 
reason.  Thus  he  can  see  why  he  is  forbidden  to  take  explo- 
sives with  ordinary  luggage;  why  there  is  a  "penalty  forty 
shillings*  for  pulling  the  communication  cord  in  a  moving 
train;  why  he  must  not  put  obstacles  on  the  line;  and  why 
he  may  not  travel  without  a  ticket.  But  why,  on  the  other 
hand,  should  he  be  forbidden  to  buy  articles  in  a  shop  on 
certain  afternoons  when  the  shop-keeper  is  there,  and  the 
shop  open,  and  the  articles  are  there,  and  each  are  only 
anxious  to  trade  with  each  other?  Why  may  he  not  cross 
the  railway-line  except  at  appointed  places?  Why  may  he 
not  be  allowed  to  enter  an  inn  and  obtain  refreshments  ex- 
cept between  certain  hours  ?  Why  is  it  wicked,  for  example, 
for  him  to  buy  a  glass  of  beer  at  five  o'clock,  and  not  wicked 
for  him  to  buy  it  at  six,  when  the  inn  is  open  and  the  beer  is 
there  to  quench  his  thirst? 

These  operations  become  more  inexplicable  when  he  passes 
from  school  into  the  working  life  of  the  community.  "The 
Law"  swoops  down  on  his  wages,  and  compels  him  to  surren- 
der some  pennies  of  them  every  week,  to  be  spent  on  a  stamp 


8  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

to  be  affixed  to  his  insurance  card,  quite  indifferent  to 
whether  he  wishes  to  be  insured  or  not.  It  promises  him  in 
return  a  doctor  whom  he  does  not  want,  and  medicines 
which  he  detests,  in  an  illness  which  he  does  not  believe  he  will 
ever  endure.  In  some  trades  he  is  compelled  to  wear  a  mask 
and  undergo  washings  and  take  drugs  and  foods,  under  con- 
ditions which  he  has  no  desire  to  observe,  on  which  he  has  not 
been  consulted  at  all.  These  conditions  he  is  always  trying 
to  elude.  In  others  he  is  only  allowed  to  work  a  certain 
number  of  hours  a  day,  although  he  is  quite  willing  to  work 
more  hours  for  more  wages.  Or  he  is  forbidden  to  work  at 
night,  or  he  is  not  allowed  to  lift  certain  weights,  or  go  near 
certain  machines.  "The  Law"  does  indeed  give  him  com- 
pensation in  certain  accidents — so  many  pounds  for  a  lost 
arm,  so  many  for  a  lost  leg.  But  here  also  it  appears  en- 
tirely capricious  in  its  action.  If  his  employer  has  sent  him 
on  a  message  through  the  streets,  and  he  is  run  over  by  a 
motor,  his  employer  has  to  pay  compensation.  But  if  he  is 
run  over  by  the  same  motor  in  the  same  street  on  his  way 
from  his  employer's  office  to  his  home,  the  employer  does  not 
have  to  pay  him  any  compensation  at  all. 

Gradually,  however,  all  this  growing  life  passes  into  one 
of  two  phases :  dull  acceptance  of  "Law"  as  something  out- 
side, or  realization  of  what  "Law"  really  means.  In  the 
acceptance  by  men  and  women,  no  attempt  is  made  to  ascer- 
tain a  reason  or  to  find  a  remedy  for  it  all.  As  the  older 
races  of  mankind  acquiesced  in  the  misfortunes  of  humanity 
as  being  the  work  of  gods  who  might  be  placated  with  offer- 
ings, but  were  moved  by  no  human  sentiments  of  justice  or 
compassion,  so  the  majority  of  men  and  women  to-day  accept 
"the  Law."  They  accept  it  as  some  dull  force  which  is  to 
be  eluded  wherever  possible,  and  avoided  whenever  possible, 
but  which  has  no  sort  of  relation  to  the  kindly  and  tolerant 


THE  CHILD  ENCOUNTERS  LAW  9 

life  of  the  common  people.  Inspectors  come  and  go,  and 
their  only  object  appears  to  be  to  intrude  and  to  annoy.  If 
they  can  be  avoided,  well ;  if  they  can  be  deluded,  well.  All 
people  ask  is  to  be  left  alone,  as  freed  from  the  all-seeing  and 
savage  eye  .of  a  "Law"  whose  only  purpose  is  to  harass  and 
disturb,  as  from  the  all-seeing  and  savage  eye  of  a  god  who 
inflicts  tremendous  punishments  for  trivial  sins. 

But  to  the  second  class  there  comes  an  awakening.  It 
may  take  the  form  of  an  exact  examination  through  a  term 
of  years.  It  may  take  the  form  of  some  such  sudden 
revelation  as  that  given  in  the  older  religious  revivals 
in  the  form  of  "conversion."  It  is  an  awakening  to  two 
facts.  The  first  is  that  no  law  exists  which  has  not  had  at 
one  time  a  meaning,  and  that  all  laws  are  by  their  nature 
transitory — that  they  are  continually  being  born,  attaining 
power,  becoming  altered  or  destroyed.  And  the  second  is 
that  this  birth  and  death  of  law  is  not  performed  by  some 
strange  and  remote  entities  ruling  in  a  world  in  which  this 
man  has  no  place.  It  is  performed  by  himself,  and  the 
millions  of  others  like  himself. 

"Though  poorly  fed  and  sorely  tasked"  if,  as  a  great  ora- 
tor has  said,  on  the  one  hand  he  is  a  "miserable,"  on  the 
other  he  is  a  god. 

And  when  he  has  understood  this  fact  all  life  becomes 
changed  to  him.  He  has  the  power  to  destroy  bad  laws  and 
to  create  good  ones.  He  will  set  himself  at  once  to  the  task 
of  change ;  from  that  childhood  which  can  only  endure  laws 
imposed,  to  that  manhood  which,  if  it  cares  to  exercise  its 
influence,  can  alter  the  history  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER     II 
THE     CHILD     BECOMES     A     CITIZEN 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  may  become  a  citizen  of  the 
State.  When  he  becomes  a  citizen,  he  has  a  right  to  vote 
for  the  rulers  of  the  State.  Who  shall  be  rulers  of  the 
State,  and  how  they  shall  rule  is  entirely  settled  by  the  votes 
of  himself  and  other  citizens  like  himself.  No  one  else  has 
any  say  in  the  matter. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  also  he  may  become  a  voter  or 
"burgess"  in  the  town  in  which  he  lives.  He  can  then  decide 
by  his  vote  how  the  town  shall  be  governed,  and  who  shall 
govern  it.  It  is  a  little  harder  to  become  a  voter  for  the 
Town  Council  than  for  Parliament.  That  is  because  every 
one  who  has  to  decide  who  shall  govern  the  town  is  supposed 
to  occupy  some  property  in  the  town — to  have  a  stake  in  the 
town.  But  every  man  over  twenty-one,  whether  he  occupies 
some  property  or  not,  has  a  right  to  vote  for  Parliament 
which  makes  the  laws  and  governs  the  whole  country. 

The  State  takes  a  good  deal  of  trouble  and  spends  a  good 
deal  of  money  in  making  those  who  live  in  the  country  into 
citizens  of  the  country  when  they  grow  up.  It  enrols  the 
man  of  twenty-one  as  a  citizen,  and  gives  him  a  right  to 
vote,  without  telling  him  anything  about  it.  But  it  takes 
no  trouble  and  spends  no  money  in  telling  him  when  he  has 
a  vote,  or  when  he  has  an  opportunity  of  voting,  or  how  and 
where  his  vote  should  be  given.  But  for  the  newspapers, 

10 


THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  11 

and  the  work  of  private  societies  and  individuals  who  want 
his  vote,  he  might  never  know  he  had  a  vote,  or  when  he  could 
use  it,  or  to  whom  that  vote  should  be  given. 

How  does  he  get  his  vote? 

Twice  every  year  the  list  is  made  up  of  men  and  women     I 
who  have   a   right  to  vote  if  an  Election   should  be  held,     j 
These  lists  are  made  up  and  altered  twice  a  year,  even  if  no 
Election  takes  place  in   the  interval.     You  may  have  had 
many  such  lists  carefully  made  up,  and  thrown  away,  and 
other  new  ones  replacing  them,  between  one  Election  and 
another.     But  when  an  Election  comes,  then  the  latest  list 
made  up  before  it  is  used. 

Any  one  who  has  his  name  printed  on  that  list  may  vote 
if  he  wishes.  No  vote  is  allowed  from  any  one  whose  name 
is  not  printed  on  the  list.  Even  if  he  has  all  the  qualifica- 
tions, he  is  sent  away  miserable  if  his  name  is  not  on  the 
printed  list.  On  the  day  of  the  Election  the  printed  lists 
are  the  only  things  that  matter.  At  most  Elections  you  will 
see  scores  or  hundreds  of  men  turned  away  from  the  polling 
booths  because,  though  they  thought  they  had  a  right  to  / 
vote,  their  names,  for  some  reason  or  other,  were  not  on  the 
printed  list. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  your  name  is  on  the  list,  even  if  you  I 
are  not  qualified,  the  officer  who  is  presiding  cannot  refuse 
vour  vote.  In  the  days  before  women  had  the  vote  for  Par-  | 
liament  it  sometimes  happened  that  a  woman's  name  and 
address  appeared  by  a  mistake  on  the  printed  list — the  Par- 
liamentary Register.  In  those  cases  she  could  vote  just  like 
the  men  and  her  vote  could  not  be  refused.  The  names  of 
children  under  age — sometimes  quite  small  children  under  ten 
— have  sometimes  appeared  on  the  register  by  mistake.  It 
is  said  that  if  these  children  tried  to,  they  could  vote,  and  no 
official  could  legally  refuse  to  let  them  do  so.  Some  presid- 


12      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

ing  officers,  however,  say  they  would  tell  them  to  "run  away 
and  play." 

It  is  a  duty  laid  upon  the  "Registration  Officer,"  who  in 
the  towns  is  the  Town  Clerk,  to  make  up  the  correct  list  of 
voters  twice  a  year.  If  he  does  not  carry  out  this  duty,  he 
can  be  subjected  to  a  fine  of  £100. 

He  employs  "canvassers" — persons  who  call  at  each  house 
to  make  inquiries.  He  can  also  send  out  letters  to  the 
occupants  of  the  houses  asking  them  to  answer  questions  on 
who  are  living  in  these  houses,  and  who  ought  to  be  put  on 
the  register  of  voters.  His  "canvassers" — who  are  paid  as  a 
permanent  or  temporary  staff — have  the  list  of  the  old 
register  with  them.  They  call  from  house  to  house  and 
street  by  street.  They  find  out  in  each  house  which  of  the 
old  voters  has  died ;  which  have  moved  away ;  if  any  new  vo- 
ters have  moved  in ;  if  any  boys  who  lived  there  have  become 
men  of  twenty-one  since  the  last  register  was  made.  They 
cross  out  the  old  names  and  add  the  new  ones. 

The  registers  are  made  up  twice  a  year — on  the  15th 
January  and  the  15th  July.  A  man  has  a  right  to  vote 
in  any  district  which  returns  a  member  to  Parliament — 
called  a  constituency — if  he  is  twenty-one  years  old  on  the 
day  before  the  register  is  made  up;  if  he  is  "residing" 
in  that  constituency  on  the  day  before  the  register  is  made 
up;  and  if  he  has  "resided"  for  the  six  months  before 
that  day  in  the  same  house  or  in  a  house  in  the  same  con- 
stituency, or  in  the  same  town  or  county  or  in  the  town  or 
county  which  is  adjoining  to  the  town  or  county  in  which 
he  lives. 

Thus  to  take  a  few  simple  cases: — 

A  boy  is  working  out  and  living  at  home.  He  has  lived 
at  home  for  the  six  months  before  July  15th.  He  is  twenty- 
one  years  old  on  the  1st  July.  His  name  is  entered  on  the 


THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  13 

register  which  is  made  up  on  the  15th  of  July.  He  has  be- 
come an  elector. 

A  man  lived  in  one  house  until  March  23rd.  He  then 
moved  to  another  house  in  the  same  town.  He  is  living  in 
that  house  in  the  same  town  on  the  14th  of  July.  He  is 
entered  as  a  voter  for  his  new  house. 

A  man  moves  in  April  from  Birmingham  to  London.  The 
canvasser  in  July  finds  him  living  in  London  and  desiring  a 
vote.  But  he  has  not  "resided"  for  six  months  in  London  or 
an  adjacent  district.  So  he  cannot  get  on  the  July  regis- 
ter. He  can  get  no  vote  until  the  following  January.  In 
the  July  register  of  Birmingham  he  is  struck  off  as  not  re- 
siding there  the  day  the  register  is  made  up.  If  an  election 
takes  place  while  that  new  register  is  in  force,  he  cannot 
vote  anywhere.  He  has  been  struck  off  Birmingham  and 
not  yet  got  on  to  London.  If  he  moved  about  like  this 
every  six  months  he  would  never  get  a  vote  at  all.  If  he 
stays  on  in  London,  he  will  get  a  vote  on  the  register  which 
is  made  up  on  the  following  January — nine  months  after 
he  moved  there.  And  he  will  be  able  to  use  it  after  the  reg- 
ister comes  into  force,  three  or  four  months  afterwards. 

If,  however,  he  moves  away  after  the  register  is  made  up, 
he  can  still  vote  in  the  place  from  which  he  has  moved,  if 
he  is  still  on  the  register.  Suppose  he  lived  in  Birming- 
ham until  the  end  of  January  and  then  moved  to  London, 
his  name  would  be  on  the  register  for  Birmingham,  which  is 
made  up  on  January  15th  and  comes  into  life  on  the  15th 
April.  Its  life  lasts  until  the  15th  October,  when  its  succes- 
sor takes  its  place.  Now  if  an  Election  takes  place  in 
Birmingham  between  April  and  October,  the  man  who 
moved  to  London  at  the  end  of  January  will  still  have  his 
name  on  the  Birmingham  register,  and  will  still  be  entitled 
to  vote  in  Birmingham. 


14      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Only  he  will  have  to  go  to  Birmingham  to  do  so.  He 
cannot  send  his  vote  by  post  as  the  soldiers  did  from  France 
and  Belgium  just  after  the  war.  In  every  Election  held  on 
what  is  called  a  "stale"  register,  there  are  always  a  large 
number — hundreds  or  sometimes  thousands — of  these  "re- 
movals," as  they  are  called.  Their  votes  can  often  decide 
Elections.  Great  efforts  are  made  by  the  candidates  and 
their  friends  to  persuade  them  to  come  back  to  the  place 
in  which  they  once  lived  in  order  to  vote. 

It  was  once  not  impossible  for  these  candidates  to  pay  the 
railway  fare  of  these  voters  if  they  would  come  and  vote  for 
them.  That  is  now  illegal.  A  candidate  can  be  prose- 
cuted, and  if  he  has  won,  can  be  unseated  (i.e.,  turned  out  of 
Parliament)  if  he  pays  such  railway  fares.  He  can,  how- 
ever, without  penalty,  send  his  carriages  and  motors,  or  the 
carriages  and  motors  of  his  friends,  to  bring  up  to  vote  those 
of  these  "removals"  who  will  vote  for  him.  He  dare  not  pay 
a  railway  fare  of  threepence.  He  can  spend  three  pounds  on 
petrol  and  tyres  of  a  motor.  When  an  Election  is  a  close 
one,  these  men  are  brought  up  from  all  over  the 
country.  When  I  once  had  a  close  Election  at  Bethnal 
Green  in  London,  I  borrowed  about  a  hundred  motor  cars 
and  sent  them  all  over  the  country  to  bring  up  these  voters 
— twenty,  sixty  or  a  hundred  miles  away.  My  opponents 
did  the  same. 

No  condition  can  be  made  that  the  men  you  have  brought 
up  shall  vote  for  you.  A  man  might  have  moved  to  Brighton 
and  write  and  say,  "I  am  your  supporter,  please  bring  me  up 
in  a  motor  and  I  will  vote  for  you."  I  might  send  for  him  to 
Brighton  and  bring  him  to  Bethnal  Green  and  he  might  then 
go  in  and  vote  for  my  opponent.  I  cannot  possibly  tell 
whether  he  has  voted  for  me  or  my  opponent.  But  a  cer- 
tain sporting  element  in  the  country,  and  a  sense  that  this  is 


THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  15 

not  "playing  the  game,"  prevents  this  thing  being  often  done 
— but  there  is  nothing  against  the  law  in  doing  it. 

These  "removals"  are  all  swept  off  the  register  when  it  is 
next  revised.  But  meantime  a  fresh  crop  of  "removals"  has 
grown  up  of  men  whose  names  are  on  the  new  register,  but 
who  have  moved  away  to  other  districts  since  that  new  reg- 
ister was  made. 

You  can  move — in  the  six  months — to  adjacent  towns  or 
counties  without  losing  your  vote.  You  are  then  always  on 
the  one  register  or  the  other — the  town  you  moved  to,  or  the 
town  you  moved  from.  But  you  lose  your  vote  for  a  time  if 
you  move  to  a  town  or  county  not  adjoining.  This  rule 
produces  some  strange  results.  A  man  may  move  from 
(say)  Staines,  in  Middlesex,  to  Poplar,  in  London,  without 
losing  his  vote.  jHe  passes  straight  from  the  register  of 
Middlesex  to  the  register  of  Poplar.  That  is  because  Lon- 
don and  Middlesex  are  adjacent.  But  if  a  man  moves  from 
Baling  to  Paddington  (also  in  London)  then  he  loses  his  vote 
for  a  time.  Paddington  is  much  nearer  to  Baling  than 
Poplar  is  to  Staines.  But  Baling  is  a  town,  and  there  is  a 
piece  of  Middlesex  between  Baling  and  London,  and,  there- 
fore, Baling  is  not  adjacent  to  London,  though  it  is  nearer 
London  than  Staines.  Such  are  some  of  the  queer  things 
still  left  by  law. 

On  the  15th  of  January  and  the  15th  July  the  lists  are 
closed.  The  Registration  Officer  then  has  provisional  lists 
printed  and  published.  Publishing  them  means  providing 
them  in  the  Post  Offices  or  sticking  them  up  on  the  doors  of 
churches  or  public  buildings.  Any  one  can  go  into  any 
Post  Office  and  ask  to  see  the  lists  of  voters. 

Any  one  who  thinks  he  ought  to  be  a  voter,  and  whose 
name  is  not  on  the  list,  can  "claim"  to  be  put  on  the  list. 
The  Registration  Officer  then  has  to  hear  the  reason  for  his 


16      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

claim.  If  his  claim  is  a  good  one,  he  is  put  on  the  list 
and  becomes  a  voter. 

Any  one  looking  at  the  voters'  list  who  sees  a  name  on  it 
whom  he  thinks  for  some  reason  should  not  be  on  the  list, 
can  make  to  the  Registration  Officer  an  objection  to  his 
name.  The  man  whose  name  is  objected  to  is  then  told  by 
post  that  an  objection  has  been  made.  The  Registration 
Officer  hears  the  objection  and  the  answer  to  the  objection, 
and  decides  which  is  right.  If  the  objection  is  right,  the 
name  is  struck  out. 

In  the  case  of  a  "claim"  or  "objection,"  if  any  one  is  dis- 
satisfied with  the  decision  of  the  Registration  Officer,  he  can 
appeal  to  the  County  Court,  and  the  County  Court  will  hear 
the  case  and  either  maintain  or  reverse  the  decision.  Any 
"claim"  to  be  put  on  the  register  has  to  be  made  within 
eighteen  days  of  the  publication  of  the  lists,  and  any  objec- 
tion to  a  name  on  the  register  within  fourteen  days  of  such 
publication. 

Cases  may  be  doubtful  for  a  variety  of  reasons.  A  man 
may  be  really  under  twenty-one,  and  have  said  he  is  over. 
He  may  have  not  "resided"  six  months  before  the  day  of  mak- 
ing up  the  lists.  It  is  very  doubtful  what  "residence"  really 
is.  He  may  be  away  four  months  from  illness  out  of  the  six. 
He  may  spend  part  of  his  time  in  one  house  and  part  in  an- 
other— in  the  country.  He  might  be  an  undergraduate  in 
a  University  and  spend  six  months  in  college  and  six  months 
at  home. 

In  such  cases,  where  the  "law"  is  doubtful,  any  one  dissat- 
isfied with  the  decision  of  the  Registration  Officer  may 
appeal  to  the  High  Court  of  Justice — the  Court  of  Appeal. 

The  Registration  Officer  is  supposed  to  have  settled  all 
these  claims  and  objections  a  few  weeks  after  the  publica- 
cation  of  the  provisional  lists.  Three  months  later,  on  the 


THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  17 

15th  April  or  the  15th  October,  the  actual  voting  list  is 
published.  That  is  in  force  for  six  months.  There  is  no 
further  change  or  appeal.  The  men  and  woman  whose  names 
are  printed  on  that  list  will  decide  how  England  shall  be  gov- 
erned, and  who  shall  govern  it,  if.  in  the  six  months  while  it 
is  alive,  a  General  Election  comes. 

The  register  and  the  conditions  of  getting  on  to  it,  are  a 
little  different  in  voting  for  the  Town  Councils  and  Local 
Authorities,  from  voting  for  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  difference  is  that,  in  the  vote  for  the  town  the  voter 
is  supposed  to  be  a  citizen  in  the  town,  with  a  stake  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  town ;  occupying  some  property  on  which  he  has 
to  pay  rates,  either  directly,  or  through  the  rent  he  pays  to 
the  landlord,  who  then  himself  pays  the  rates  on  that  prop- 
erty. 

The  qualification  to  become  a  "burgess"  of  a  town  for  a 
man  over  twenty-one  is  that  he  shall  "occupy"  some  prem- 
ises in  the  town  for  six  months  before  the  election  register 
is  made  up.  A  man,  for  example,  who  is  living  at  home 
with  his  father,  even  if  he  possesses  a  separate  bedroom,  is 
not  occupying  any  premises,  and,  therefore,  has  no  munici- 
pal vote.  A  man  living  in  furnished  lodgings  is  held  to  be 
not  occupying  the  rooms  in  which  he  lives,  and  has  no  vote. 
A  man  is  occupying,  however,  if  he  is  living  in  unfurnished 
lodgings,  even  if  he  is  using  hired  furniture.  (Whether  he  is 
"occupying"  if  he  hires  the  unfurnished  rooms  from  his  land- 
lord and  hires  (separately)  the  furniture  in  the  same  rooms 
from  his  landlord  remains  a  doubtful  question. 

But  a  man  may  "occupy"  by  the  rent  of  any  tenancy, 
however  small.  There  is  no  limit  of  value  at  all.  If  he 
hires  an  allotment  for  10s.  a  year  he  can  get  the  vote  for 
that  hiring.  He  can  get  the  vote  for  the  hiring  of  a  tennis 
lawn,  or  a  boat  house,  or  a  motor  garage,  or  a  dog  Icennel. 


18      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

It  is  possible  that  even  when  living  at  home,  if  he  has  com- 
plete control  over  his  own  room  and  a  separate  latchkey, 
and  pays  his  father  rent  for  it,  and  his  father  will  give  him 
as  a  present  the  furniture  of  his  own  room,  that  this  would 
count  as  a  separate  occupation,  and  give  him  the  right  to 
a  municipal  vote. 

The  same  qualification  as  the  vote  for  the  Town  Council, 
if  he  lives  in  the  town,  gives  him  the  right  to  vote  for  the 
County  Council  or  Rural  or  Urban  District  Council  if  he 
lives  in  one  of  the  districts  ruled  by  these ;  or  for  the  Election 
of  Guardians.  , 

Let  us  next  consider  the  present  qualification  of  a  woman 
for  the  vote:  first  the  right  which  she  has  long  enjoyed  for 
voting  for  the  local  authority — town  or  county  council,  etc. ; 
then  the  qualification  for  the  right  which  she  has  only  just 
been  given  for  voting  for  the  House  of  Commons. 

A  woman,  in  order  to  get  on  the  "burgess  roll,"  must 
either  "occupy"  premises  herself,  which,  if  not  a  dwelling- 
house,  must  be  worth  £5  a  year  or  more ;  or  must  be  the  wife 
of  a  husband  with  whom  she  is  living,  who  is  occupying  such 
premises.  Any  woman  over  twenty-one  who  occupies  such 
premises,  or  whose  husband  occupies  such  premises,  is  placed 
on  the  burgess  roll. 

A  woman  who  is  thus  placed  on  the  burgess  roll  is  quali- 
fied by  the  same  conditions  for  voting  for  Parliament  when 
she  is  thirty  years  old. 

There  are  thus  two  distinctions  at  present  between  the 
right  of  a  woman  to  vote  for  Parliament  and  the  right  of  a 
man.  Most  people  think  that  the  only  difference  is  that  a 
woman  shall  be  thirty  and  a  man  only  twenty-one.  That  is 
not  so.  A  woman  must  occupy  premises,  or  be  married  to 
a  man  occupying  premises.  A  man  (for  Parliamentary,  not 
Local  Government  votes;  has  merely  to  live  within  the 


THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  19 

constituency  for  six  months  before  the  register  is   made. 

The  distinction  may  be  understood  by  a  concrete  example. 
Consider  a  big  house  in  which  menservants  and  maidservants 
are  both  living.  Every  manservant  living-in  will  have  a 
Parliamentary  vote  at  twenty-one.  No  woman  servant  will 
have  a  vote,  whatever  her  age,  as  long  as  she  "lives  in."  If 
she  lives  in  a  cottage  near  the  house  and  pays  rent  for  it, 
she  will  have,  if  over  thirty,  a  vote.  If  she  and  another 
servant  jointly  occupy  a  cottage,  both  will  have  a  vote. 

To  take  another  example,  where  a  family  is  living  to- 
gether. If  a  grown-up  son,  over  twenty-one,  is  living  at 
home,  he  will  be  put  on  the  Parliamentary  register  and  have 
a  vote.  If  his  sister,  over  thirty,  is  living  at  home  under 
exactly  the  same  conditions,  she  will  not  have  a  vote.  If, 
however,  the  family  give  her  a  separate  room  and  she  pays 
rent  for  it  out  of  her  wages,  and  pays  rent  for  the  furniture 
in  it,  she  could  probably  claim  a  vote,  though  the  claim  might 
be  disallowed.  The  law  has  not  yet  decided  that  point. 

There  is  another  point  about  the  Parliamentary  register 
which  affects  a  small  number  of  Electors  only.  It  gives  a 
limited  number  of  persons  two  votes  each  for  Parliament. 
They  may  not  use  these  two  votes  in  the  same  constituency. 
But  if  a  man  lived  in  one  constituency  and  occupied  business 
premises  in  another  of  a  value  (in  the  case  of  a  man)  of 
more  than  £10  a  year,  he  is  put  on  the  registers  of  both  con- 
stituencies, and  when  the  time  comes,  if  he  wishes  to,  he  can 
vote  in  both. 

The  best  example  of  this  system  at  work  is  the  voting  in 
the  City  of  London.  Hardly  anybody  lives  within  the  ac- 
tual boundaries  of  the  City  of  London.  The  whole  of  the 
City  is  made  up  of  offices  and  shops  and  business  premises. 
If  a  man  does  not  live  in  the  City,  but  "occupies"  a  shop  or 
office  with  a  value  of  more  than  £10  a  year  he  has  a  Parlia- 


20      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

mentary  vote  for  the  City.  He  may  live  at  Hampstead,  or 
Ilford,  or  Tootin.  He  has  a  vote  in  these  divisions  because 
he  lives  in  them,  and  he  has  an  additional  vote  for  the  City — 
or  for  any  other  district  where  he  has  occupation  of  such 
shop  or  office. 

Men  and  women  who  have  taken  degrees  at  certain  Uni- 
versities have  also  votes  for  these  Universities.  But  at  a 
General  Election  a  voter  cannot  give  more  than  two  votes. 
He  may  "reside"  in  Kensington  and  be  on  the  Kensington 
register.  He  may  also  "reside"  in  a  seaside  cottage  at  Mar- 
gate and  be  on  the  register  for  Margate.  He  may  also  have 
an  office  in  the  City,  and  be  on  the  register  for  the  City  of 
London.  He  may  also  be  a  graduate  (i.  e.,  have  taken  a  de- 
gree) at  a  University.  He  will  then  be  on  four  Election  reg- 
isters, and  at  any  by-Election,  in  any  one  of  them,  he  can 
vote  at  any  of  these  four  places  in  which  his  name  appears. 
But  at  a  General  Election  he  is  actually  forbidden  to  vote  at 
more  than  two.  And  if  he  votes  at  more  than  two,  knowing 
that  it  is  illegal  so  to  do,  he  is  subjected  to  penalty  for  so 
doing. 

The  second  vote  (for  business  premises)  is,  however,  neg- 
ligible compared  to  the  whole.  It  is  reckoned  that  some  sev- 
enteen million  Electors  are  on  the  registers  of  the  United 
Kingdom  on  the  residential  qualification,  and  only  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty-nine  thousand  possess  the  additional 
qualification  of  a  vote  for  the  possession  of  premises  outside 
the  constituency  in  which  they  live.  England  has  very 
nearly  at  this  moment  both  the  One  Man  One  Vote  which 
was  the  cry  of  one  pre-war  political  party,  and  the  One  Vote 
One  Value  which  was  the  cry  of  another. 

Lastly  it  may  be  asked,  if  these  are  the  qualifications  of 
the  Electors,  what  are  the  qualifications  necessary  for  those 
whom  they  elect?  ,  '  ;  .  , 


THE  CHILD  BECOMES  A  CITIZEN  21 

For  Parliament  the  qualification  is  simplicity  itself.  A 
man  must  be  a  British  subject  over  twenty-one  years  old.  A 
woman  must  be  a  British  subject  over  thirty  years.  No 
other  qualification  is  required.  They  need  not  themselves  be 
qualified  as  voters,  or  possess  any  property,  or  occupy  any 
premises.  If  they  are  British  subjects,  and  not  certified 
insane,  and  not  clergymen,  and  not  members  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  not  serving  a  sentence  in  prison  for  felony,  and 
not  undischarged  bankrupts,  it  is  enough. 

The  Town  Council  is  more  particular.  Any  one  on  the 
Burgess  Election  roll  may  be  elected  a  member  of  the  Town 
Council.  But  that  roll  requires  six  months  qualification  of 
"occupation"  of  a  dwelling-house  or  business  premises  with- 
in the  town  boundaries.  In  addition  to  this,  any  man  or  wo- 
man over  twenty-one  is  qualified  who  has  lived  a  year  previ- 
ous to  the  Election  within  the  boundaries  of  the  town.  If 
he  has  been  elected  on  this  qualification  and  leaves  the  town, 
he  has  to  resign  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  Council.  He 
cannot  continue  like  a  "Removal  Voter"  as  a  sort  of  "Re- 
moval Councillor."  If  his  qualification  is  the  Register  Qual- 
ification, he  can  continue  (if  he  has  been  elected)  to  be  a 
member  of  the  Town  Council  so  long  as  he  continues  on  the 
register.  This  may  be  six  months  (no  longer)  after 
he  has  moved  away.  But  he  cannot  continue  unless  he  con- 
tinues to  attend  a  certain  number  of  meetings  of  the  Council. 
The  town  is  very  jealous  that  no  one  shall  have  a  voice  in  its 
government  who  is  not  identified  with  the  interests  of  the 
town,  and  sufficiently  a  resident  and  ratepayer  as  to  be 
affected  personally  by  its  good  or  bad  government. 


CHAPTER     III 
THE     CITIZEN     CHOOSES     HIS,     ttULEB(S 

An  Election  for  Parliament  must  come  once  every  five 
years.  It  may  come  much  more  frequently.  In  practice, 
in  peace  time  no  Parliament  lasts  five  years.  It  will  not  be 
long,  therefore,  in  any  case,  before  the  citizen  who  has  been 
registered  as  a  voter  will  find  himself  in  the  position  of  tak- 
ing his  part  in  deciding  who  shall  govern  the  country. 

The  State  gives  very  little  actual  notice  to  the  voter  when 
anything  is  happening  or  what  he  is  expected  to  do  in  the 
matter.  It  "publishes"  certain  information  by  sticking  up 
notices  on  Church  Doors,  or  Town  Halls,  or  sometimes  in 
Post  Offices.  But  the  voter  as  a  rule  does  not  study  the  lit- 
ter of  notices  on  Church  Doors  or  visit  the  Town  Hall  to 
know  what  is  going  on.  But  for  the  newspapers,  the  work 
of  the  candidate  and  his  friends  to  get  the  Elector  to  vote, 
and  the  work  of  great  organizations — the  "Party  Organi- 
zations"— to  which  the  candidate  generally  belongs,  he  would 
receive  practically  no  information  or  guidance  at  all.  Many 
Elections  take  place,  especially  for  such  minor  public  bodies 
as  the  Board  of  Guardians,  in  which  not  one  in  ten  of  the  vo- 
ters ever  know  that  an  Election  is  going  on,  and  not  one  in 
fifty  of  the  registered  Electors  takes  the  trouble  to  vote. 

There  is  no  "quorum"  in  an  English  contested  Election. 
If  only  one  vote  is  recorded  for  one  candidate  and  none  for 
the  other,  the  candidate  with  the  one  vote  is  declared  elected. 

Nor  is  there  any  attempt  in  England  officially  to  per- 
suade or  compel  a  man  to  use  his  vote.  He  may  have  had  a 

22 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS        23 

right  to  vote  for  fifty  years  and  never  have  used  it.  Just 
as  much  effort  is  made  to  put  his  name  on  the  register  as  if 
he  had  voted  at  every  Election. 

Nor  is  any  attempt  made  officially  in  public  or  private 
lists  to  record  which  Electors  have  voted  and  which  have  not. 

The  principles  of  all  Election  for  public  bodies  are  the 
same.  Later  on  we  may  note  variations  in  Local  Elections. 
But  in  general  it  is  sufficient  to  describe  the  method  of  the 
simplest  Election  of  all — that  for  representation  in  Parlia- 
ment for  a  constituency  which  is  allowed  to  return  one  mem- 
ber. 

After  Parliament  is  dissolved  (or  a  vacancy  for  any  rea- 
son has  occurred)  the  Mayor  of  the  town  gives  notice  that 
an  Election  will  be  held  for  Parliament.  He  announces 
that  on  a  certain  day  and  between  certain  hours  of  it,  he  will 
attend  at  the  town  hall  to  receive  "nominations"  for  any 
candidates  who  wish  to  be  members.  If  more  than  one  can- 
didate is  thus  nominated,  he  appoints  a  day  when  a  "poll" 
of  the  Electors  will  be  taken,  to  decide  which  of  these 
candidates  the  constituency  would  like  to  send  to  Parlia- 
ment. 

The  first  suggestion  that  anything  is  going  to  happen  will 
probably  come  to  the  Elector  through  the  newspaper.  He 
will  learn  in  the  newspaper  that  Parliament  is  going  to  be 
dissolved,  and  a  new  Parliament  elected.  Later  he  may 
read  that  candidates  have  been  chosen  by  different  political 
Parties  for  contesting  the  right  to  represent  in  Parliament 
the  district  or  town  in  which  he  lives.  But  his  first  definite 
knowledge  that  something  is  going  on  will  be  by  receiving 
through  the  post  a  document  called  the  "election  address" 
of  a  candidate.  If  there  are  many  candidates  there  will 
probably  be  as  many  election  addresses.  These  documents 
are  delivered  free  at  the  house  of  every  Elector  to  whom  they 


24,  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

are  addressed.  Each  is  probably  printed  in  colour,  the  col- 
our being  that  which  has  been  chosen  by  the  Party  which  has 
chosen  the  candidate — perhaps  Yiellow  for  Conservative, 
Blue  for  Liberal,  Red  for  Labour.  Each  will  probably  have 
a  portrait  of  the  candidate  at  the  top,  and  a  portrait  of  the 
candidate's  wife.  Each  will  be  written  as  a  letter  begin- 
ning: "Ladies  and  Gentlemen,"  or  "To  the  Electors  of 
X Dear  Sir  or  Madam."  Each  will  explain  that  the  can- 
didate has  been  invited  to  come  forward  and  stand  as  a  can- 
didate for  the  representation  of  X in  Parliament.  Each 

will  explain  how  much  he  loves  X ;  what  he  has  done 

for  X already  (if  he  is  a  local  man)  ;  how  much  more  he 

will  do  for  X if  he  is  elected.     Each  will  give  the  chief 

points  in  the  program  of  the  Party  which  he  supports,  and 
perhaps  throw  scorn  on  the  programs  of  the  other  Parties. 
Each  will  give  lists  of  the  principal  meetings  where  the  can- 
didates and  their  friends  will  speak,  and  where  he  will 
answer  questions  put  to  him  by  any  Electors.  Each  con- 
cludes with  the  request,  expressed  with  an  air  of  deference 
and  humbleness,  that  he  may  count  on  that  Elector's 
support. 

Pretty  soon  things  begin  to  liven  up,  Meetings  are  held 
in  halls  and  schoolrooms  at  which  the  rival  candidates  ad- 
dress audiences,  friendly,  unfriendly,  or  indifferent.  Adver- 
tisements appear  on  the  hoardings,  or  are  carried  round  by 
sandwich-men,  with  pithy,  short  sentences  in  the  different  col- 
ours, "Vote  for  A  the  friend  of  the  poor,"  or  "B  is  a  winner," 
or  "Out  with  C."  Pictures  are  also  plastered  up,  such  as  that 
of  a  melancholy  looking  man  gazing  on  a  dead  fire  in  a  bare 
room,  labelled  "A  Victim  of  Free  Trade,"  or  "A  Victim  of 
Protection,"  or  "A  Victim  of  Capitalism,"  or  whatever  else 
he  may  be  explained  as  being  a  victim  of.  Meetings  develop 
from  schoolrooms  and  halls  to  outdoor  gatherings,  and  men 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS         25 

with  strong  voices  and  leather  lungs  get  on  boxes  or  carts 
outside  factories,  or  in  places  where  people  gather,  and  shout 
out  the  virtues  of  their  candidates  and  policies,  or  the 
wickedness  of  their  opponents.  In  the  majority  of  cases, 
however,  the  great  bulk  of  the  Electors  never  go  to  meetings, 
and  if  they  did  would  be  too  confused  by  the  rival  orators 
to  understand  how  they  should  vote.  So  all  candidates  and 
organizations  depend  mainly  on  the  machinery  of  what  is 
called  "canvassing,"  and  on  "canvassing"  the  result  of  an 
Election  mainly  depends. 

"Canvassing"  sounds  as  if  it  were  something  mysterious. 
There  are  many  persons  who  object  to  it,  and  would  like  to 
have  it  abolished  by  law.  But  it  cannot  be  abolished  by  law, 
for  canvassing  is  just  the  calling  of  one  man  upon  another  to 
talk  over  with  him  how  he  should  give  his  vote,  and  to  per- 
suade him  to  give  it  to  his  friend.  In  practice,  each  Party 
opens  little  Committee  Rooms  all  over  the  district,  to  each 
of  which  certain  streets  are  assigned.  Registers  are  bought 
and  split  up,  and  the  clerk  in  charge  copies  out  on  separate 
cards  or  separate  pages  of  a  little  book  the  name  and  address 
of  every  Elector  in  these  streets.  Men  and  women  who  are 
eager  for  their  Party  or  candidate  to  win  come  to  these  Com- 
mittee Rooms,  and  each  takes  out  a  certain  number  of  these 
cards.  There  is  a  space  on  each  to  mark  the  probable  vote 
of  the  Elector  "For,"  "Against,"  "Doubtful,"  and  any  "Re- 
marks." The  canvasser  calls  on  the  Elector  whose  card  he 
is  carrying,  and  calls  again  and  again  until  a  personal  inter- 
view is  obtained.  He  then  says,  "I  come  on  behalf  of  Mr. 

A (say)  the  Conservative  candidate.     Will  you  vote  for 

Mr.  A ?"     The  Elector  may  say  determinedly  "Yes." 

He  is  marked  "For."     He  may  say  determinedly  "No,"  and 

that  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  vote  for  Mr.  B or  Mr. 

C .     He  is  then  marked  "Against."     If  he  shows  any 


26      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

irresolution,  the  canvasser  tries  to  explain  why  Mr.  A 

and  the  Conservative  Party  are  the  right  people  for  him. 

This  persuasion  is  a  fine  art.  There  are  good  canvassers 
and  bad.  Some  do  their  cause  more  harm  than  good.  The 
art  is  to  find  out  what  the  Elector  really  cares  for  of  all  the 
various  promises  and  programs,  and  then  to  explain  that 

this  is  what  Mr.  A really  cares  for.  It  is  also  to  get  in 

friendly  relations  with  the  Elector.  A  patient  canvassar 
will  let  the  Elector  speak  his  opinions  and  grievances 
for  a  long  time.  He  will  promise  to  come  and  call  again. 
He  will  bring  little  books  and  pamphlets  explaining  why 
Mr.  A is  the  man  to  vote  for.  If  the  Elector  is  inde- 
pendent, he  will  congratulate  him  on  his  independence.  If 
the  Elector  says  that  no  man  can  persuade  him  how  to  vote, 
he  will  say  that  this  is  exactly  the  kind  of  voter  that  is 
needed,  that  he  himself  would  never  attempt  to  persuade 
such  an  Elector,  but  that  he  was  only  giving  him  some  facts 
and  principles  which  will  help  him  to  make  up  his  mind  for 
himself. 

In  some  districts  canvassers  are  hated.  In  some,  espe- 
cially in  the  north  of  England,  they  receive  no  information 
from  most  of  the  Electors,  who  say  that  voting  is  secret. 
But  in  others,  especially  in  the  poorer  quarters  of  London, 
the  Electors  often  think  that  the  canvassers  have  a  legal 
right  to  question  them  and  that  they  are  obliged  to  reply. 
In  these  districts,  therefore,  a  large  number  of  the  Electors 
promise  to  vote  for  all  the  candidates  of  all  the  Parties,  a 
promise  which  often  upsets  the  calculation  of  the  people  who 
are  organizing  the  elections. 

Meantime,  the  authorities  have  been  doing  their  work, 
quite  indifferent  to  all  this  noise  and  agitation.  The  Mayor 
announces  that  he  will  sit  in  the  Town  Hall  between  certain 
hours  on  a  certain  day  to  receive  "nominations"  of  the  names 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS        27 

of  any  candidates  who  wish  to  "be  elected  members.  Each 
candidate  has  to  be  thus  "nominated"  in  writing  by  a  mover, 
a  seconder,  and  eight  other  supporters,  all  of  whom  have  to 
be  electors  on  the,  register.  Each  of  these  has  to  sign  his 
own  name  on  the  paper. 

On  the  appointed  day  and  at  the  appointed  hour  the  can- 
didates arrive  with  little  groups  of  their  supporters,  at  the 
Town  Hall,  and  hand  in  their  nominations  to  the  Mayor. 
They  generally  shake  hands  with  each  other  to  show  there  is 
no  ill  feeling.  They  generally  hand  in  a  large  number  of 
nomination  papers  in  order  to  make  sure  that  one  of  them  is 
quite  correct.  The  Mayor  checks  one  of  these  papers  with 
the  list  on  the  register,  and  if  the  names  are  correct,  and  no 
objection  is  taken,  he  accepts  the  candidate  as  having  been 
legally  nominated. 

The  candidate  or  his  agent  then  has  to  hand  over  a  sum  of 
money  to  the  Mayor  to  pay  for  the  expenses  of  the  Election. 
He  must  hand  this  over  in  cash  or  notes ;  he  cannot  do  it  by 
writing  a  cheque.  Many  candidates  in  the  past  have  forgot- 
ten this,  and  after  weeks  of  labour  have  found  themselves  dis- 
qualified and  their  nominations  refused  at  the  last  minute  be- 
cause they  had  forgotten  to  change  their  cheque  into  notes, 
and  could  not  do  it  before  the  time-limit  of  the  nomination 
had  expired.  This  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  where  a 
citizen  who  wishes  to  stand  for  Parliament  is  not  even  allowed 
to  become  a  candidate  until  he  has  handed  over  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money  to  the  State  Officer  who  is  conducting  the 
Election.  If,  however,  in  the  subsequent  poll  he  gets  more 
than  one  eighth  of  the  votes  of  those  who  poll,  he  will  receive 
his  money  back  again.  If  he  gets  less,  he  has  lost  it  for  ever. 

This  plan  is  devised  to  prevent  too  many  candidates  stand- 
ing at  anv  Election.  It  is  difficult  to  see  what  objection 
there  is  to  any  number  of  candidates  standing.  The  law 


28      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

allows  any  British  citizen,  if  a  man  over  twenty-one,  if  a 
woman  over  thirty,  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  Parliament  in 
any  district  in  the  country.  Canadian,  Australian,  Indian, 
have  thus  all  stood  for  Parliament,  and  many  of  them  have 
been  elected.  But  in  practice  it  is  very  rare  for  anybody  to 
be  elected  unless  he  is  a  member  of  and  assisted  by  one  of  the 
great  political  Parties.  Very  occasionally  an  "Independ- 
ent" candidate  gets  elected,  but  he  is  generally  backed  by 
some  other  force,  such  as  a  big  newspaper,  or  enters  at  a 
time  of  great  excitement  because  he  has  taken  up  some  spe- 
cial thing  in  which  the  people  are  interested.  Thus  at  the 
time  of  the  famous  Tichborne  trial,  when  all  England  was 
excited  over  the  case  of  a  man  who  came  from  the  Antipodes 
and  claimed  to  be  the  heir  to  the  Tichborne  estates  (who  was 
supposed  to  have  been  drowned),  the  people  of  a  big  town 
elected  to  Parliament  the  lawyer  who  had  defended  this  man 
against  the  charge  of  perjury,  because  they  were  all  on  the 
"claimant's"  side.  And  there  have  been  other  similar  cases 
where,  for  a  time  and  generally  for  some  such  special  reason, 
the  Electors  of  a  constituency  have  preferred  some  "Inde- 
pendent" man  to  the  Party  candidates. 

When  the  nominations  are  over,  if  only  one  man  has  been 
legally  nominated  for  one  seat,  the  Mayor  acclaims  him  duly 
elected  Member.  This  is  what  is  called  being  "returned  un- 
opposed." In  the  Parliamentary  Elections  there  are  gen- 
erally some  Members  who  are  so  certain  to  be  elected  that 
no  one  thinks  it  worth  the  trouble  to  fight  them,  and  who  are, 
therefore,  "returned  unopposed."  This  is  far  more  com- 
mon in  the  Municipal  or  County  Council  Elections. 

If  more  than  one  candidate  is  legally  nominated,  the 
Mayor  declares  that  a  poll  of  the  Electors  shall  be  held  on 
the  day  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  the  Government.  All 
such  Elections  are  held  on  one  day,  and  generally  between 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS        29 

the  fixed  hours  of  eight  in  the  morning  and  eight  at  night ; 
although  these  may  be  extended,  on  application,  to  from 
seven  to  nine. 

The  announcement  of  this  coming  poll  with  the  names  of 
the  candidates  and  those  who  have  nominated  them  is  posted 
up  at  the  Town  Hall  and  sometimes  at  Church  Doors,  etc. ; 
but  once  more  the  State  takes  no  trouble  at  all  to  inform  the 
voters  when  the  poll  is,  or  where  it  is,  or  who  are  the  candi- 
dates, or  what  are  their  opinions.  Although  the  Election  is 
of  supreme  importance  and  can  alter  the  lives  or  ruin  the  ca- 
reers of  millions  of  citizens — even  the  information  as  to  who 
they  are  to  choose  to  rule  them  is  left  to  private  enterprise. 

After  the  nomination  and  before  the  Election  the  Elector 
will  probably  receive  a  second  communication  from  each 
of  the  candidates.  This  is  called  the  poll-card,  and  is 
delivered  free  of  charge  to  every  Elector.  It  generally  takes 
the  form  of  a  little  card,  printed  (by  the  candidate)  in  the 
colour  of  the  Party  to  which  he  belongs.  It  gives  on  it  the 
name  and  address  of  the  Elector,  the  number  of  the  Elector 
on  the  register  and  the  place  where  he  votes.  It  also  gives 
a  little  model  ballot  paper  printed  just  like  the  official  bal- 
lot paper,  with  a  cross  against  the  name  of  the  candidate 
who  sends  it,  and  the  request  "vote  thus." 

Many  of  the  Electors  think  that  these  are  sent  out  by  the 
State,  and  that  they  cannot  vote  unless  they  take  one  of 
these  to  the  polling  booth  with  them.  Some  try  to  put  these 
cards  into  the  ballot  box  until  stopped  by  the  authorities. 
The  different  Parties  on  the  day  have  generally  men  stand- 
ing outside  with  the  colours  of  their  candidates  conspicuously 
displayed.  These  men  collect  the  cards  from  the  people  as 
they  come  out  after  they  have  voted,  each  collecting  the 
cards  of  his  own  party.  Many  of  the  voters  think  that 
they  are  obliged  by  law  to  give  up  their  cards  to  these  men. 


30      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

By  such  means  each  Party  can  see  how  a  large  number  of 
the  Electors  have  voted,  and  the  spirit  of  the  ballot  is  thus 
violated.  These  cards,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  have  no  legal 
value  or  recognition  at  all. 

On  the  night  before  the  Election  the  work  of  persuasion 
is  finished,  and  in  the  Committee  Rooms  the  agents  of  the 
candidates  destroy  all  canvass  cards  except  those  with  the 
names  of  Electors  who  have  promised  to  support  their  side. 
The  sole  object  during  the  day  of  Election  is  to  get  all  these 
to  vote. 

This  is  not  done  without  a  very  great  effort.  From  be- 
fore eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  a  picked  body  of  helpers 
are  scattered  all  over  the  district,  hammering  at  the  doors  of 
the  citizens,  and  reminding  them  that  they  have  promised  to 
vote.  These  citizens  are  given  no  peace  until  their  vote  has 
been  recorded.  They  are  hunted  up  in  cellars  and  streets 
and  public-houses,  and  places  of  work  and  business.  They 
are  rushed  in  from  outside  if  they  are  "removals,"  in  vari- 
ous vehicles.  Sometime  they  refuse  to  come  unless  motors 
are  sent  for  them,  and  then  the  motors  available  are  hastened 
to  the  spot,  and  you  can  see  a  whole  street  or  village  riding 
in  triumph  to  the  polling  booth.  The  sick  and  cripples  are 
also  brought  up  in  carriages ;  and  it  is  very  rarely  that  any 
excuse  for  not  voting  is  accepted.  People  who  have  prom- 
ised to  vote  for  more  than  one  candidate  find  themselves 
worried  by  the  canvassers  of  more  than  one,  and  there  are 
often  humorous  disputes  as  to  which  he  or  she  promised  first, 
and  to  whom  he  or  she  rightly  belongs. 

Most  of  the  voters  wear  the  colours  of  the  candidates  or 
their  portraits  in  a  little  button,  and  thus  completely  evade 
any  idea  of  secrecy.  They  also  come  up  in  vehicles  which 
are  gaily  decorated  with  the  colours  of  one  or  the  other 
Party.  And  it  is  a  point  of  honour  generally  only  to  ride 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS         31 

in  the  carriages  of  your  own  side,  although  some  keen  and 
cunning  politicians  make  it  also  a  point  of  spirit  to  do  ex- 
actly the  opposite. 

The  voters  often  enter  the  polling  stations  asking  "Where 
do  I  vote  for  Mr.  Smith  or  Mr.  Jones  or  Mr.  Robinson?" 
and  generally  it  may  be  accepted  that  in  English,  as  distinct 
from  Scottish  elections,  the  extraordinarily  elaborate  pre- 
cautions taken  by  the  State  to  preserve  absolute  secrecy  in- 
side the  polling  booth  are  completely  nullified,  in  the  case  of 
nine  out  of  ten  of  the  Electors,  by  the  efforts  of  all  the 
Parties  to  penetrate  that  secrecy  outside. 

What  exactly  then  happens  in  the  polling  booth,  and  what 
is  the  exact  nature  of  an  election  by  "ballot"? 

A  "polling  booth"  is  merely  a  name  for  any  building  which 
the  Mayor  or  Returning  Officer  has  obtained  or  hired  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  the  poll.  It  is  generally  a  public  build- 
ing, such  as  the  Town  Hall  or  the  Elementary  School. 
Each  polling  booth  has  allotted  to  it  all  the  Electors  on  the 
register  in  a  certain  district.  In  each  polling  booth  is  placed 
on  the  day  of  Election  a  number  of  officials  under  a  "pre- 
siding officer."  This  "presiding"  officer  has  been  appointed 
to  see  that  the  poll  is  carried  out  legally  and  in  orderly 
manner  in  that  polling  booth.  Very  often  for  convenience 
there  are  subdivisions  within  the  booth,  further  dividing 
up  the  register  according  to  districts  in  which  the  voters 
live. 

The  Elector,  arriving  at  the  polling  station,  is  directed 
by  policemen  outside  into  the  polling  booth.  He  finds  a 
large  room  with  a  counter  on  one  side  of  it,  behind  which  are 
clerks  sitting,  perhaps  divided  up  into  sections,  marked  A, 
B,  or  C.  On  the  other  side  are  a  number  of  little  hutches  on 
a  counter,  very  similar  to  the  places  in  the  post  offices  in 
which  telegrams  are  written  out,  generally  with  pencils 


32      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

attached  to  string  in  each  hutch.  In  the  middle,  or  near  the 
door,  in  a  big  oblong  tin  box,  standing  upright  on  a  chair 
with  a  slit  in  the  top  like  a  letter  box.  Otherwise  the  room 
is  empty. 

The  would-be  voter  is  approached  by  the  presiding  officer, 
who  is  walking  about  the  room,  and  is  asked  his  number, 
name  and  address.  When  he  has  given  his  address  he  is 
directed  to  go  to  the  counter  at  which  his  particular  street 
is  dealt  with.  Here  are  two  clerks,  one  with  a  printed  book 
of  ballot  papers,  the  other  with  a  copy  of  the  register.  The 
printed  books  have  the  actual  ballot  papers  attached  to 
counterfoils  by  perforated  lines.  Each  counterfoil  is  num- 
bered, and  has  the  same  number  as  the  ballot  paper  attached 
to  it.  The  voter  gives  his  name,  say,  Smith,  85  Green 
Street.  The  clerk  with  the  register  turns  to  85  Green 
Street,  finds  Smith  entered  against  it,  asks  perhaps  his 
Christian  name  for  identification,  finds  he  has  not  been  ticked 
off  as  already  voted.  The  answer  being  satisfactory,  he 
calls  out  to  his  colleague  the  number  affixed  to  the  name  of 
Smith  in  the  register,  say  "8050."  The  colleague  writes 
that  number  down  on  the  counterfoil  of  the  ballot  paper, 
tears  off  the  ballot  paper  itself  from  the  counterfoil,  stamps 
it  with  a  secret  sign  and  hands  it  to  the  voter.  The  counter- 
foil and  the  ballot  paper  each  have  the  same  printed  number, 
say  "3021,"  the  number  being  printed  on  the  back  of  the  bal- 
lot paper.  The  voter  goes  to  one  of  the  hutches  and  makes 
a  cross  there  against  the  name  of  the  candidate  he  wishes  to 
vote  for.  He  then  folds  up  the  paper,  drops  it  into  the  tin 
box,  and  walks  out  of  the  polling  booth;  thus  having  done 
all  that  he  can  do  to  change  the  history  of  the  world. 

Each  candidate  has  a  right  to  have  a  representative  in 
the  polling  booth  to  look  after  his  legal  interests  there.  All 
these  as  well  as  the  officials  have  to  take  an  oath  before  a 


BALLOT      PAPER. 


ITS 

C5 

O 


3  g 


1 

ERSKINE. 

(James    Malcolm    Monteith    Erskine,    of 
7,  Eocleston  Square,  Westminster,  S.W.I,' 
J.P.  for  the  County  of  Sussex.) 

2 

JESSEL. 

(Colonel  Sir  Herbert  Merton  Jessel,  Bart., 
C.B.,  C.M.G.,  of  24,  South  Street,  Park 
Lane,  Westminster,  W.I.) 

BALLOT      PAPER. 


d    ^ 
o     LO 


8  g 


1 

APPLIN 

(Reginald  Vincent  Kempenfelt  Applin,  of 
The  Mount,  Great  Shefford,  Lftmbourne, 
Berks.,  and  21,  Pembroke  Square.  Kensing- 
ton, W.8.,  LiAit.-Col.,  D.S.O.,  H.M.  Army 
(Retired)  ). 

o 

LUPTON 

(Arhold   Lupton,   of  7,   Victoria    Street, 
Westminster,  S.W.I.     Civil  and   Mining 
,  Engineer). 

3 

NICHOLSON 

(John  Sanctuary  Nicholson,  of  2,;'  South 
Audley  Street,  London,  W.I,  Brig.-Gen., 
H.M.     Army    (Retired),    C.B.,    C.M.G., 
C.B.E.,  D.S.O.) 

BALLOT   PAPERS 
USED   IN    PARLIAMENTARY  ELECTIONS 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS        33 

magistrate,  that  they  will  keep  absolute  secrecy  as  to  any- 
thing that  happens  inside,  and  can  be  sent  to  prison  if  they 
break  it. 

The  chief  object  of  these  representatives  is  to  prevent 
what  is  called  "personation."  There  are  always  a  certain 
number  of  Electors  who  are  away,  or  who  cannot  vote  for 
some  reason,  or  who  have  died  since  the  register  was  made  up. 
The  officers  have  no  list  of  these,  and  are  indeed  obliged  to 
accept  the  vote  of  every  one  on  the  register,  dead  or  living. 
But  each  Party  has  tried  to  compile  a  list  of  these  dead  and 
absent  voters,  and  each  Party  tries  to  prevent  all  the  dead 
and  absent  voters  who  are  not  on  their  side  being  "polled" 
by  people  who  "personate"  them. 

In  very  close  Elections  where  the  majorities  are  small, 
these  dead  or  absent  voters,  if  personated,  may  decide  the 
Election ;  and  often  strong  efforts  are  made  to  get  their 
votes  recorded.  In  Ireland,  where  personation  was  a  fine 
art,  scarcely  a  close  Election  took  place  without  a  number 
of  personators  being  caught  in  the  act;  and  it  is  said  the 
cemeteries  were  emptied  and,  for  this  day  only,  the  dead  come 
to  life  again.  Such  personation  is  an  offence  against  the 
law,  but  as  here  both  sides  do  it,  it  is  difficult  for  either  to 
prosecute.  And  it  is  also  an  offence,  for  which  he  can  ob- 
tain damages,  to  detain  a  man  for  personating  if  he  is  not 
doing  so. 

A  story  runs  that  in  one  Irish  Election  it  was  cleverly 
arranged  that  a  list  should  be  betrayed  to  the  opponents 
which  was  supposed  to  be  a  list  of  the  dead;  but  was  really 
a  list  of  some  live  voters.  Early  in  the  day  of  the  Election, 
these  live  voters  (who  were  in  the  secret)  marched  into  the 
room,  tried  to  vote,  were  all  challenged  by  the  opponent 
who  thought  he  had  the  secret  information,  and  detained  by 
the  presiding  officer.  They  loudly  protested  their  innocence, 


34      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

sent  out  for  their  wives  and  children  who  identified  them, 
and  were  one  ofter  another  released  loudly  protesting  their 
grievance  and  demanding  damages.  The  representative  who 
had  challenged  them  was  thus  completely  scared  and  baffled, 
and  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  was  afraid  to  challenge 
anybody,  the  other  Party  polled  their  real  dead  men  and  won 
by  a  small  but  triumphant  majority. 

Many  Electors  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  harm  in 
personation,  and  think  they  have  every  right  to  vote  for  a 
relation  or  friend  who  cannot  vote  for  himself.  Often  such  a 
relation  or  friend  writes  to  ask  the  voter  to  vote  for  him, 
thinking  it  is  quite  legal  that  he  should  do  so.  This  confu- 
sion is  made  more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  in  certain  cases 
so  called  "proxy"  voters  are  now  allowed.  A  man  may  now 
vote  for  an  Elector  who  is  in  India  or  China  if  it  has  been 
previously  arranged  that  he  shall  have  received  from  the 
absentee  definite  legal  authority  to  vote  in  his  place.  He  can 
then  give  this  vote  as  well  as  his  own  vote.  It  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  explain  to  the  plain  man  why  he  cannot  vote  for  his 
son  who  is  too  ill  to  go  to  the  poll  himself,  but  who  tells  him 
exactly  how  he  wants  to  vote,  while  his  neighbour  who  has 
a  son  perhaps  in  Mesopotamia,  who  has  never  even  heard 
of  the  Election,  is  allowed  to  give  his  own  son's  vote  without 
consulting  'him  at  all. 

The  method  of  dealing  with  personation  is  as  follows: 
The  name  of  the  voter  is  challenged  by  the  agent,  who 
thinks  that  the  man  who  is  claiming  the  vote  is  not  the  vo- 
ter. The  presiding  officer  then  informs  the  would-be  voter 
that  he  has  no  right  to  vote  unless  he  is  the  man  on  the  reg- 
ister, and  if  he  persists  in  his  determination,  administers  to 
him  an  oath  to  swear  that  he  is  the  man  on  the  register. 
After  he  has  sworn  this  he  receives  the  ballot  paper,  which 
is  filled  up  in  the  ordinary  way  and  put  into  the  box.  He 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS        35 

may,  however,  be  detained  until  he  can  prove  his  identity, 
and  if  he  is  proved  to  have  sworn  a  lie,  can  be  prosecuted  and 
put  into  prison.  Many  attempts  are  made  at  personation 
which  break  down  under  the  test  of  the  oath;  the  would-be 
voter  muttering  that  there  must  be  some  mistake,  and  very 
rapidly  evacuating  the  polling  booth. 

If  a  person  comes  to  record  a  vote  which  is  ticked  off  on  the 
register  as  having  already  voted,  he  is  given  a  pink  ballot 
paper  instead  of  a  white  one.  These  pink  papers  are  kept 
separate  from  the  other  votes,  and  only  counted  if  there  is 
scrutiny  or  petition. 

If  a  voter  is  illiterate  or  blind  or  otherwise  incapable, 
the  presiding  officer  records  his  vote  for  him. 

When  the  clock  strikes  at  the  appointed  hour  of  closing, 
the  doors  of  the  polling  booths  are  closed,  and  only  those  are 
allowed  to  vote  who  have  already  received  ballot  papers  from 
the  clerk  inside  the  booth.  The  tin  ballot  boxes  are  sealed 
up,  and  then  are  carefully  removed  and  collected  at  the  cen- 
tral station,  generally  at  the  Town  Hall,  where  the  votes  are 
to  be  counted. 

The  Elections  are  arranged  by  the  Government  and  take 
place  all  on  one  day.  The  "counts"  take  place  on  the  same 
day  or  the  day  after.  The  Mayor  and  the  staff  of  clerks 
assemble  at  the  Town  Hall  with  the  ballot  boxes,  all  of  which 
have  been  brought  there.  The  candidates,  their  agents  and 
some  of  their  friends  are  also  allowed  to  be  present.  Every 
one- present  has  to  swear  an  oath  of  secrecy  before  a  mag- 
istrate, and  can  be  prosecuted  if  he  reveals  anything  of  what 
he  has  seen.  The  clerks  of  the  different  districts  unseal  and 
open  the  ballot  boxes  of  their  own  districts,  and  turn  the 
papers  out  on  a  table.  They  first  go  rapidly  through  all 
the  ballot  papers,  seeing  that  every  paper  has  the  secret  sign 
which  was  stamped  on  it  when  it  was  given  out  to  the  voter, 


36      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

and  also  that  the  number  of  papers  correspond  with  the  num- 
ber which  they  each  gave  out  on  the  day  of  voting  as  re- 
corded in  their  book  of  counterfoils.  If  the  number  is 
greater,  or  the  box  contains  ballot  papers  without  the  secret 
sign,  they  know  some  one  must  have  slipped  forged  ballot 
papers  into  the  box.  If  the  number  is  less  they  know  that 
some  of  the  ballot  papers  must  have  been  lost,  or  that  some 
persons  must  have  taken  away  or  destroyed  their  ballot 
papers  instead  of  putting  them  into  the  box. 

When  all  these  things  have  been  adjusted,  the  papers  are 
all  put  again  in  the  boxes  and  the  papers  of  all  the  boxes 
are  mixed  together.  This  is  in  order  that  no  one  should 
know  what  way  any  particular  village  or  ward  or  polling  dis- 
trict has  voted.  The  clerks  then  divide  up  the  ballot  papers 
thus  mixed  together  and  proceed  to  count  the  number  of 
votes  for  each  candidate.  This  is  generally  done  by  sorting 
them  into  heaps,  each  heap  representing  the  votes  for  one 
candidate,  and  then  tying  them  up  into  little  bundles  of  fifty 
or  a  hundred  with  the  names  of  each  candidate  printed  in 
colour  tied  on  to  each  bundle.  The  counting  is  challenged 
by  representatives  of  each  side  who  are  looking  on,  and  it  is 
very  rarely  that  even  the  best  clerks  do  not  make  some 
mistakes  and  have  not  to  be  corrected.  Any  paper  concern- 
ing which  there  is  any  doubt  is  thrown  out  into  a  separate 
pile ;  the  others  are  thrown  together  and  rapidly  added  up. 

The  doubtful  votes  are  then  judged  by  the  Mayor  in 
agreement  with  the  candidates  or  their  agents.  In  very 
close  voting  these  doubtful  papers  become  of  very  great 
importance  as  they  may  decide  the  Election.  In  judging 
them  two  rules  are  observed.  The  first  is  that  it  must  be 
clear  which  candidate  the  voter  intended  to  vote  for.  He 
need  not  necessarily  make  his  cross  in  the  little  square  place 
where  his  cross  should  be.  Crosses  made  over  the  name  of 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS         37 

the  candidate  are  counted  for  that  candidate.  It  has  even 
been  decided  by  some  officers  that  crosses  shall  count  nearest 
to  the  name  of  the  candidate,  even  if  they  are  on  the  margin 
of  the  paper,  but  others  object  to  this,  as  they  say  it  gives 
an  advantage  to  the  name  that  stands  first  on  the  paper. 
The  theory  is  that  men  who  vote  late  and  who  are  perhaps 
a  little  exhilarated  tend  to  put  their  crosses  on  the  upper 
half  of  the  paper,  and  give  an  unfair  advantage  to  a  man 
whose  name  begins  with  A  over  a  man  whose  name  begins 
withZ. 

Of  the  second  kind,  all  writing  is  held  to  disqualify  a  vote, 
as  writing  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  be  identified.  Thus  if  a 
voter  put  a  cross  against  the  name  of  his  candidate  and  also 
wrote  "good  man"  against  it,  the  vote  would  be  disallowed, 
because  it  might  have  been  a  secret  arrangement  that  this 
voter  should  write  "good  man,"  made  with  the  candidate,  and 
the  candidate  or  his  agent  looking  on  would  know  how  he 
had  voted. 

There  are  scarcely  any  Elections  in  which  some  voters  do 
not  ruin  their  papers  by  excess  of  zeal.  If  they  cross  out 
the  name  of  the  candidates  they  hate,  the  vote  is  recorded, 
and  no  harm  is  done.  If  they  write  as  some  do,  "dirty  dog" 
or  "napoo"  over  the  name  of  the  candidate  they  dislike,  their 
votes  are  disqualified.  Some  solemnly  write  their  names  and 
addresses  at  the  bottom  of  the  ballot  paper — others  write 
their  register  numbers.  All  such  are  disqualified.  Some 
put  crosses  against  all  the  candidates'  names.  I  have  known 
no  Election  in  which  some  such  papers  have  not  appeared 
at  the  end,  for  what  reason  no  man  knows.  Some  take  all 
the  trouble  to  come  to  the  poll  and  get  a  ballot  paper  in 
order  to  write  "both  rogues"  or  "all  three  fools"  over  it, 
and  having  solemnly  dropped  this  into  the  ballot  box  go 
away  feeling  happier.  In  the  War  Election  of  1918  quite  a 


38      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

number  of  soldiers  who  sent  in  their  votes  from  abroad  wrote 
sentences  like  "You  wait  till  we  come  home,"  on  their  ballot 
papers.  Sometimes  a  new  Party  will  try  to  estimate  its 
strength  by  means  of  the  ballot.  The  Socialists,  for  ex- 
ample, once  instructed  their  followers  in  certain  places, 
where  no  Socialist  candidates  were  standing,  to  write 
"Socialist"  across  the  papers.  When  they  learned  officially 
the  number  of  spoilt  papers  they  could  form  a  rough  esti- 
mate of  the  number  of  Socialists  in  the  district. 

The  Mayor  having  thus  agreed  with  the  agents  on  the 
alotting  of  the  doubtful  papers  to  each  candidate,  any  which 
are  still  challenged,  being  reserved — those  allowed  are  added 
to  the  totals  already  arrived  at;  and  thus  the  final  number 
is  decided.  The  Mayor  then  calls  for  silence,  and  reads  out 
in  order  of  votes  the  names  of  each  candidate  and  the  votes 
recorded  for  him,  saying  at  the  end,  "I  declare  Mr.  A" — 
the  candidate  who  has  the  greatest  number  of  votes — 
"duly  elected  Member  of  Parliament  for  the  borough  of  X." 
From  that  moment  Mr.  A  has  ceased  to  be  one  of  the  many 
private  citizens  obeying  the  laws  of  his  country,  and  is  in 
process  of  becoming  one  of  the  very  few  public  citizens  hav- 
ing the  right  to  make  the  laws  for  his  country. 

Mr.  A  then  will  propose  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Mayor 
and  his  officials  for  the  splendid  and  efficient  way  in  which 
they  have  carried  out  the  Election.  He  will  generally  add 
that  he  will  do  his  best  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the 
borough  of  X  in  Parliament.  He  will  explain  what  good 
sportsmen  Mr.  B  and  Mr.  C  have  been,  and  how  no  ill- 
feeling  remains.  Mr.  B  and  Mr.  C  will  second  and  support 
the  vote  of  thanks,  testifying  to  the  splendid  and  efficient 
way  the  Mayor  and  his  officials  have  carried  out  the  Election 
and  explaining  what  a  good  sportsman  Mr.  A  is.  These 
sentiments  will  be  received  with  cheers  by  the  supporters  of 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS         39 

each  candidate  and  the  public  in  the  gallery.  Mr.  A,  Mr. 
B,  and  Mr.  C,  will  then  solemnly  shake  hands  with  the 
Mayor  and  with  each  other  and  the  supporters  of  each  with 
each  other.  As  until  the  day  of  the  Election  each  was 
denouncing  the  other  in  public  for  opinions  which  would 
ruin  the  nation,  and  a  character  which  permanently  unfits 
him  for  public  service,  these  concluding  amiabilities  some- 
times strike  the  detached  observer  with  amazement.  But 
this  is  the  British  method  of  concluding  all  contests;  in 
the  desire,  above  all  things,  whether  winning  or  losing,  to  be 
thought  "a  good  sportsman" — in  a  dog  fight,  a  football 
match,  or  a  Parliamentary  Election. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  although  this  method  of  Election 
seems  so  simple,  it  is  rare  that  no  mistakes  are  made.  In 
most  close  contents  the  losing  side  demands  a  "recount," 
and  in  nearly  every  case  of  a  recount  the  figures  vary  from 
the  first  calculation,  sometimes  so  much  as  to  upset  the  first 
decision.  Bundles  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  votes  are  mislaid  or 
omitted  from  the  total  or  counted  to  the  wrong  side.  Some- 
times mistakes  are  made  by  the  officials  themselves.  In  one 
Election  the  district  officer  wrote  the  register  number  of  the 
Electors  on  the  actual  ballot  papers  themselves  instead  of  on 
the  counterfoils,  and  the  votes  of  all  these  Electors  were 
disqualified  through  no  fault  of  their  own. 

Even  after  the  day  the  member  has  been  declared  elected 
he  is  not  out  of  the  woods.  In  the  four  weeks  following  his 
opponents  are  allowed  to  demand  a  scrutiny,  or  to  present 
a  petition  for  what  is  called  illegal  practices,  or  a  petition 
for  corrupt  practices.  A  scrutiny  is  the  only  occasion  on 
which  how  any  single  Elector  has  voted  is  revealed  to  the 
world.  This  revelation  can  only  take  place  by  tracing  the 
number  of  the  vote  on  the  ballot  paper  to  the  similar  number 
on  the  counterfoil,  and  then  from  the  register  number  marked 


40      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

by  the  clerk  on  the  counterfoil,  when  the  vote  was  given 
out,  to  the  name  of  the  voter  in  the  list  who  is  registered 
to  that  number. 

There  is  a  common  idea  in  some  quarters  that  any  one, 
by  sending  "a  shilling  to  London,"  can  find  out  how  any 
one  has  voted.  That  is  not  true.  There  is  also  an  idea 
that  the  "Government*5  if  it  likes  can  find  out  how  any  one 
has  voted.  That  also  is  untrue.  The  ballot  papers  are  in 
the  hands  of  the  Mayor,  and  it  would  be  his  duty  to  destroy 
them  sooner  than  give  them  up  to  "Government"  if  "Govern- 
ment" demanded  them.  In  any  case,  twelve  months  after 
the  Election  all  the  papers  are  destroyed. 

Many  wives  and  mothers  of  soldiers  in  the  Election  of 
1918  voted  for  the  Government  because  they  thought  that 
the  Government  would  find  out  how  they  voted,  and  if  they 
had  voted  against  "Government,"  "Government"  would  not 
bring  home  their  husbands  and  sons  as  quickly  as  those 
who  had  voted  for  "Government."  Their  fears  were  need- 
less. Even  in  a  scrutiny,  so  careful  is  the  law  about 
the  secrets  of  the  ballot,  that  it  is  only  when  a  vote  has 
been  definitely  decided  to  have  been  an  improper  vote 
that  the  secret  is  revealed  of  the  way  that  vote  has  been 
given. 

Scrutinies  are  often  very  exciting  and  filled  with  sporting 
elements.  Supposing  the  candidate  against  whom  the 
scrutiny  is  being  conducted  has  been  declared  elected  by, 
say,  eight  votes.  His  opponents  endeavour  to  knock  off  one 
by  one  nine  of  the  votes  which  they  think  have  been  illegally 
recorded  for  him.  They  will  prove  that  one  man  was  dead, 
or  another  was  away  at  sea,  or  another  was  improperly 
on  the  register  as  under  age  or  being  of  the  wrong  sex,  or 
wrong  name.  If  they  succeed  in  thus  disproving  nine  votes 
of  candidate  A,  candidate  B  is  one  up  and  would  be  declared 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS         41 

elected  by  one  vote.  But  now  the  friends  of  candidate  A 
come  up  with  their  list  and  proceed  to  try  and  knock  off 
votes  of  similar  kind  from  B  until  B  is  down  one  vote  again, 
and  then  B*s  friends  attack  A's  votes  again.  And  so  they 
go  on  day  after  day  until  all  the  lists  of  votes  they  can 
find  any  reason  to  challenge  are  exhausted,  and  one  is  left, 
elected  generally  by  one  vote.  As  the  ballot  is  secret  some- 
times the  most  absurd  results  follow.  The  friends  of  candi- 
date A  will  spend  the  whole  day  disproving  the  right  of  an 
Elector  to  have  voted,  and  when  the  judges  have  agreed  to 
this,  and  the  secret  of  the  ballot  is  revealed,  it  is  found  that 
his  vote  was  actually  recorded  for  candidate  A,  to  their 
great  disgust,  and  the  joy  of  their  opponents. 

In  an  Election  petition,  no  revelation  is  made  of  how  any 
Elector  voted,  but  the  winning  candidate  can  be  unseated 
for  violation  of  the  Election  law.  This  does  not  mean, 
however,  that  the  other  candidate  or  the  candidate  next  to 
him  is  elected.  It  means  that  another  Election  is  held  in 
which  he  himself  is  not  allowed  to  be  a  candidate.  In  an 
Election  petition  for  illegal  practices,  the  candidate  may  be 
unseated  for  doing  things  which  the  Election  law  forbids 
him  to  do,  but  which  are  not  things  wrong  in  themselves. 
Such  things  are,  for  example,  spending  on  the  expenses  of 
the  Election  more  than  the  amount  which  is  allowed  by 
law,  or  having  more  Committee  Rooms  than  a  certain  num- 
ber, or  bringing  voters  to  the  poll  in  hired  vehicles,  or  not 
having  a  printer's  name  on  a  poster,  or  giving  away  flags 
or  favours  or  coloured  ribbons  or  hiring  bands  of  music. 
There  are  few,  if  any,  candidates,  who  do  not  break  some  of 
these  rules  often  quite  unconsciously  through  their  agents. 
And  in  such  petition  the  judges  can,  if  they  like,  give  "relief" 
to  such  candidates,  and  impose  no  penalties,  even  although 
the  law  has  been  broken.  In  some  towns  all  sides  so  con- 


42      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

tinuously  break  the  laws  in  these  matters  that  no  side  brings 
a  petition  against  the  other,  knowing  that  they  are  not 
guiltless  themselves. 

A  petition  for  a  corrupt  practice  is  for  something  which 
is  obviously  wrong  quite  apart  from  technical  rules,  such  as, 
for  example,  bribing  a  voter  with  money,  or  treating  a  voter 
to  a  drink,  or  intimidating  a  voter  to  vote  for  you.  No 
relief  can  be  given  here  if  the  facts  of  "corruption"  are 
proved. 

If  none  of  these  scrutinies  or  petitions  are  launched 
within  twenty-eight  days  of  the  Election,  the  successful 
candidate,  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Crown, 
has  become  a  Member  of  Parliament  until  the  next  General 
Election  occurs.  He  is  not  allowed  by  law  to  resign  his 
seat,  nor  is  he  disqualified  by  not  attending  regularly,  or 
even  by  not  attending  at  all.  He  may  spend  all  the  time  in 
the  other  side  of  the  world.  He  will  still  be  Member  of 
Parliament  for  the  district  for  which  he  was  elected.  That 
district  has  no  power  of  getting  rid  of  him,  even  if  every 
Elector  signs  a  petition  to  Parliament  and  the  King,  pray- 
ing to  be  rid  of  him,  and  however  much  they  may  dislike 
what  he  does  or  what  he  does  not  do.  And  he  himself  can 
only  escape  from  the  office  by  death  or  by  becoming  a 
bankrupt,  or  a  felon,  or  being  certified  a  lunatic,  or  by 
becoming  a  peer,  or  accepting  an  office  of  profit  under  the 
Crown.  But  if  he  accepts  an  office  of  profit  under  the 
Crjown,  he  is  obliged  to  vacate  his  seat  and  give  to  the 
Electors  a  chance  of  saying  whether  they  want  him  for 
their  Member  or  no. 

This  provision  was  made  in  order  to  prevent  the  Crown 
bribing  the  Members  of  Parliament  by  giving  them  lucrative 
offices  in  return  for  persistent  support.  Gifts  of  various 
kinds  are  given  by  Governments  today,  but  the  direct  bribery 


THE  CITIZEN  CHOOSES  HIS  RULERS         43 

of  a  Government  appointment!  carrying  a  salary  is  thus 
avoided,  except  under  the  conditions  that  the  Electors 
approve  of  it  and  re-elect  him  to  Parliament.  The  for- 
bidding of  Members  to  resign  after  being  elected  is  an 
inheritance  from  the  days  when,  with  uncertain  and  unsafe 
communications,  it  was  difficult  to  persuade  the  knights  of 
the  shires  to  consent  to  serve  in  this  capacity,  or  to  find 
one  to  replace  any  who  had  been  elected  to  the  work.  In 
practice  this  difficulty  today  is  evaded  by  the  fact  that  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  has  in  his  possession 
the  gift  of  two  offices  which  are  technically  offices  of  profit 
under  the  Crown,  though  they  carry  no  profit  with  them, 
the  Stewardship  of  the  Chiltern  Hundreds  and  of  the  Manor 
of  Northstead.  Any  Member,  therefore,  who  wishes  to 
retire  except  in  disgrace,  the  Speaker  solemnly  appoints 
Steward  of  the  Chiltern  Hundreds  or  the  Manor  of  North- 
stead.  By  accepting  such  office  he  vacates  his  seat;  he 
does  not  stand  for  re-election;  he  immediately  resigns  his 
stewardship;  and  every  one  is  happy  in  so  pleasant  an 
evasion  of  an  archaic  law. 


PART  II 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  CITY 


CHAPTER   IV 
LOCAL      AUTHORITIES      AND        THEIR      HISTORY 

Every  town,  village,  rock,  marsh  or  waste  space  of  Eng- 
land is  under  the  overlordship  and  control  of  some  local 
authority.  If  it  is  not  crystallized  out  of  the  general 
territory  as  a  borough,  it  comes  within  the  scope  of  a 
county.  Apart  from  county  or  borough  again  it  must  be 
in  some  parish.  And  the  parishes,  generally  united  to- 
gether, have  definite  functions  to  perform,  especially  in 
connection  with  the  preventing  of  people  starving  who  have 
no  money  or  food.  There  are  public  roadways  and  heaths 
and  commons  open  to  all  freely,  men,  women,  and  children. 
But  each  public  roadway  has  to  be  maintained  by  some 
public  authority  which  is  responsible  for  its  upkeep.  There 
are  vast  stretches  of  private  land  from  which  you  would 
think  the  owners  could  keep  out  intruders,  and  establish 
the  position  that  every  Englishman's  house  is  his  castle. 
But  this  castle,  though  protected  against  private  citizens, 
can  establish  no  barrier  against  the  representatives  of  these 
public  authorities.  They  can  investigate  and  inspect  his 
house  and  lands,  and  mulct  him  of  moneys  in  proportion 
to  the  value  put  upon  them  for  expenditure  decided  by 
elected  bodies  far  away,  over  which  he  has  no  control.  So 
that,  whether  he  wills  or  no,  he  is  forced  to  contribute 
substantial  sums  in  proportion  to  the  alleged  annual  value 
of  his  houses  and  land ;  to  pay  for  roads  which  he  has 
never  seen ;  or  drainage  and  lighting  which  he  never  uses ; 

47 


48       HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

or  the  maintenance  of  poor,  in  whom  he  takes  no  interest. 

He  might  say:  "I  do  not  wish  to  use  your  roads;  or  if 
I  do,  I  am  willing  to  pay  for  each  journey  on  them.  I  dig 
my  own  wells.  I  have  my  own  drainage  system.  I  make 
my  own  electric  light.  I  will  pay  for  my  own  children's 
education.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  poor,  though  I 
am  willing  to  contribute  to  charity  if  you  will  assure  me 
it  is  well  spent."  But  he  cannot  thus  play  Robinson  Crusoe 
in  twentieth-century  England.  A  variety  of  local  author- 
ities will  fall  upon  him,  and  suck  out  from  him,  whether  he 
protest  or  no,  a  rate  for  the  upkeep  of  roads,  for  lighting 
and  drainage,  for  the  education  of  other  people's  children, 
for  the  support  of  the  unemployed  and  unemployable  poor. 

All  these  authorities  are  indeed  elected  by  the  system 
which  I  have  already  described.  And,  at  intervals,  the 
exasperated  "ratepayer"  may  attempt  to  change  the  persons 
and  policy  of  any  of  them.  But  he  is  only  one  among  all 
the  others,  and  only  counts  as  one,  and  can  only  give  one 
vote  in  an  anonymous  ballot;  having  only  the  same  power, 
therefore,  even  if  he  pays  thousands  of  pounds  in  rates  from 
the  castle,  as  the  dweller  in  the  cottage  who  only  pays  a 
few  shillings,  or  thinks  that  he  pays  no  rates  at  all. 

It  is  difficult  within  a  reasonable  space  to  give  any  intel- 
ligible account  of  these  various  authorities,  with  their 
various  functions,  often  different  in  area,  or  overlapping 
in  area.  They  would  appear  in  a  map  like  a  jig-saw  puzzle. 
They  are  in  part  the  inheritance  of  an  old  England,  with 
many  centuries  of  history  behind  it ;  like  the  "rolling  roads" 
of  England  whose  praise  Mr.  Chesterton  has  sung — so  dif- 
ferent from  the  straight-driven  national  roads  of  Europe 
and  America.  The  map  of  an  English  town,  compared 
with  that  of  a  new  American  city,  exhibits  a  contrast  almost 
between  a  drunkard's  paradise  and  a  community,  from  the 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  49 

first  "Pussyfoot."  In  the  latter  are  the  firm,  straight, 
rectangular  streets,  numbered  regularly  in  order,  1st  Street 
to  275th  Street  up  and  down;  and  1st  Avenue  to  80th 
Avenue  side  by  side.  In  the  other,  the  roads  go  merrily 
reeling  round  non-existent  barriers,  writhing  and  curving 
like  snakes,  opening  into  useless  wide  spaces  at  one  point, 
narrowing  into  intolerable  and  dangerous  crevasses  at  an- 
other; and  bearing  not  regular  numbers  but  all  sorts  of 
artificial  and  flowery  titles.  So  that  it  is  quite  impossible 
for  the  stranger,  without  a  map  and  the  kindly  policeman, 
and  the  always  affable  passer-by,  to  find  the  "Acacia  Villa" 
or  "Beaconsfield  Terrace"  where  he  wants  to  go. 

And  the  same  zig-zag  and  tortuous  inheritance  of  time  is 
exhibited  in  the  local  government  of  England.  No  sane 
man  would  ever  dream  of  imposing  such  a  system  upon  a 
new  country.  There  are  a  variety  of  elected  bodies,  some 
of  which  have  laid  upon  them  the  duty  of  performing  the 
same  functions  in  the  same  area ;  some  of  which  have  the 
functions  of  coercing  the  others  if  these  others  do  not  do  as 
they  are  supposed  to  do.  All  of  them  are  supposed  to  be 
kept  up  to  their  work  by  the  Central  Authority  (the  Local 
Government  Board,  now  the  Ministry  of  Health  at  White- 
hall), which  is  responsible  to  Parliament  for  their  right 
working.  But  the  powers  of  the  Ministry  of  Health,  espe- 
cially in  connexion  with  the  larger  and  more  powerful 
authorities,  are  vague  and  exceedingly  difficult  to  enforce. 
And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  persuasion  or  impeachment  before 
the  bar  of  public  opinion  is  almost  the  only  practical  step 
it  can  employ.  All  of  them  normally  hate  each  other,  and 
all  of  them  normally  hate  the  Central  Authority.  The 
greater  authorities  are  continually  trying  to  absorb  the 
smaller  ones  surrounding  them,  and  the  smaller  ones  are 
continually  and  fiercely  resisting  the  process,  And  these 


50      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

struggles  provide  a  secure  and  ample  remuneration  for  a 
large  class  of  Parliamentary  lawyers,  agents,  etc.,  at  the 
expense  of  the  ratepayers  of  all. 

There  is,  therefore,  manifest  a  double  confusion  of  pur- 
pose between  different  authorities,  each  operating  in  the 
same  area ;  a  confusion  of  functions  and  authorities  within 
the  same  boundaries ;  and  a  confusion  of  boundaries.  The 
first  confusion  was  largely  intensified  by  the  action  of  the 
legislation  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Such  legislation 
created  a  series  of  new  public  functions,  and  whenever  a 
public  function  was  created,  it  set  up  a  new  elected  author- 
ity to  carry  out  such  a  function.  Thus,  the  Act  of  1834 
set  up  Unions  of  Guardians  to  deal  with  the  poor ;  and  the 
Act  of  1870  School  Boards  to  deal  with  Education;  and 
the  Act  of  1889  County  Councils  to  deal  with  roads  and 
police  and  the  like;  and  the  Act  of  1894  Parish  Councils 
and  District  Councils — the  latter  to  deal  with  sanitation, 
small  holdings,  etc.,  the  former  with  allotments  and  the 
parish  pump.  All  of  these  had  separate  or  competing  duties. 
All  of  them  raised  money  from  the  citizens.  All  of  them 
were  elected  independently  of  each  other.  All  of  them  spent 
with  efficiency  or  extravagance,  immensely  varying  between 
place  and  place,  the  money  they  extorted  from  private 
pockets.  The  citizen  would  find  with  consternation  a 
Parish  Council  demanding  a  parish  rate,  a  District  Council 
demanding  a  district  rate,  a  Board  of  Guardians  demanding 
a  poor  rate,  a  School  Board  demanding  an  education  rate, 
a  County  Council  demanding  a  county  rate.  And  all  these 
exactions  were  imposed  quite  apart  from  the  taxes  which  he 
had  to  pay  to  the  Central  Government  for  the  defence  of 
the  country  and  the  carrying  on  of  its  varying  enterprises. 
His  whole  time  might  have  been  occupied  in  endeavouring 
to  understand  what  all  these  bodies  were  doing,  in  criticiz- 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  51 

ing  their  actions,  or  in  attempting  agitation  to  change  their 
policy. 

The  second  confusion  is  of  area  and  boundary.  Popula- 
tions gathered  together  where  none  had  been  before.  Coal 
mines  would  open  in  the  midst  of  quiet  meadow  land. 
Marshes  and  sand-dunes  would  be  developed  into  great  ports. 
On  waste  heather  and  moorland  would  grow  up  factories 
and  furnaces  and  huge  centres  of  industry.  Little  towns 
that  for  'centuries  had  been  limited  to  boundaries  rep- 
resenting the  old  city  walls  of  defence,  would  suddenly  swell 
out  like  gourds,  and  bursting,  splash  all  over  the  neighbour- 
ing country-side.  You  would  think  that  any  rational 
people  would,  from  the  first,  have  made  provision  for  such 
changes,  and  arranged  that  by  some  simple  and  almost 
automatic  system,  aggregations  of  population  where  none 
were  before  would  become  cities,  and  cities  would  push  back 
their  boundaries  to  make  these  conform  with  their  natural 
expansion.  But  the  expansion  of  the  British  city  popula- 
tion seems  to  have  come  unexpected  and  undesired,  and  after 
centuries  of  practically  stationary  numbers.  No  such  au- 
tomatic arrangement  has  ever  been  achieved.  The  con- 
sequence is  a  series  of  bickerings,  inefficiency,  open  conflicts, 
and  waste  expenditure,  which  must  sadden  the  heart  of  the 
good  and  promote  cynical  reflections  in  the  mind  of  the  wise. 

Outside  the  boundaries  of  the  growing  cities,  the  popula- 
tion, as  it  spreads,  is  gathered  up  under  independent  local 
authorities.  These  local  authorities  endeavour  to  ape  the 
habits  of  the  central  township,  and  to  develop  into  separate 
cities  of  their  own.  Sometimes  they  are  cities  of  the 
comparatively  rich,  and  fiercely  resist  being  absorbed  into 
the  region  which  contains  both  rich  and  poor.  Sometimes 
they  are  cities  of  the  extruded  poor,  growing  up  beyond  the 
town  limits,  rather  like  the  leper  colonies  developed  beyond 


52       HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

the  mediaeval  city  walls.  And  here  the  central  town  has 
no  desire  to  bring  them  within  its  limits,  and  the  pressure 
rather  comes  from  those  who  would  push  them  in  from 
outside.  For  many  purposes  it  is  found  impossible  to  limit 
the  activities  of  the  central  organization  within  its  own 
borders,  and  this  especially  where  those  borders  are 
completely  surrounded  by  settled  streets  and  populations; 
as,  for  example,  in  the  Metropolis,  where  "London"  is  merely 
like  the  central  core  of  an  onion  completely  surrounded  by 
thick  leaves.  And  so  you  have  the  extraordinary  exhibition 
of  such  a  core  having  been  given  the  right  to  penetrate  into 
these  leaves  with  or  without  their  permission,  and  carry  on 
activities  there.  London  is  given  the  extraordinary  power 
of  building  houses,  and  planting  great  populations  of 
poorly-paid  persons  in  the  region  which  these  other  author- 
ities control.  You  have,  therefore,  the  curious  spectacle 
of  its  planting  down  what  are  in  effect  considerable  parasitic 
towns  of  the  working-classes,  in  places  like  Tottenham  or 
Ilford  or  Barking,  to  the  infinite  disgust  of  the  population 
already  resident  there ;  who  find  themselves  saddled  with  the 
burden  of  building  schools,  providing  parks  and  play- 
grounds, engineering  drainage,  etc.,  for  a  low-rated  and 
generally  prolific  working-class  population,  which  they 
neither  desired  nor  deserved. 

There  is  scarcely  a  thriving  town  in  England  which  has 
not  thus  broken  through  its  boundaries,  and  in  which  any 
rational  autocrat  in  twenty-four  hours  could  not  draw  round 
with  a  pencil  fresh  boundaries  and  say:  "This  is  the  town 
as  it  exists  today.  This  is  London ;  this,  Birmingham,  Man- 
chester, Liverpool,  and  the  like."  No  such  rational  au- 
tocrat and  no  such  power  exist.  The  unifying  of  a  town 
requires  many  years  of  strenuous  effort,  of  violent  contro- 
versy, and  of  extravagant  expenditure  of  the  ratepayers' 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  53 

money.  It  is  computed  that  the  work  of  making  greater 
Birmingham,  for  example,  into  one  city  absorbed  the  energy 
of  a  decade,  and  wasted  over  half-a-million  of  the  rate- 
payers' money,  mainly  on  lawyers'  and  agents'  fees.  For 
it  could  only  be  effected  by  the  promoting1  of  a  private 
Bill  in  Parliament,  which  any  persons  affected  could  pay 
lawyers  to  oppose.  The  result  is,  you  could  number  almost 
on  the  fingers  of  one  hand  the  successful  efforts  which  have 
been  made  in  the  past  twenty  years  to  unify  any  great 
expanding  town.  And  the  surroundings  of  any  great  devel- 
oping centre  remain,  as  far  as  local  government  is  concerned, 
in  a  condition  of  chaos  and  confusion. 

This  litter  of  local  authorities,  except  where  created  for 
special  purposes,  with  new  names,  can  all  be  traced  back 
in  their  origins  to  one  of  three  entities.  There  is  first  the 
"shires"  of  the  country-side,  a  region  of  indefinite  juris- 
diction, of  woodland  and  heath  and  common  land,  and  feudal 
ownerships.  These  are  sometimes  almost  independent,  and 
often  warring  each  against  the  other.  Gradually  some 
order  arises  out  of  chaos ;  two  visiting  judges  are  appointed 
by  the  King  to  administer  High  Justice  within  its  bound- 
aries ;  the  leading  landlords  are  formed  into  Justices  of  the 
Peace  to  administer  the  Low  Justice;  and  two  knights  of 
the  shire  are  sent  up  to  London,  or  wherever  the  High 
Court  of  Parliament  is  sitting,  to  confer  with  the  King  on 
the  welfare  of  the  country  and  especially  the  raising  of 
money  for  the  King's  service.  The  Assize  of  the  King's 
Bench  remains  practically  unchanged,  and  judges  still  visit 
the  shires  every  year  as  Judges  of  the  High  Court.  The 
Justices  of  the  Peace  having  had  all  the  apparatus  of  local 
government  super-imposed  upon  their  original  service,  have 
now  had  this  work  removed  from  them  and  pursue  still 
their  original  function.  And  the  Knights  of  the  Shire, 


54.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

together  with  their  town  brethren,  form  today  that  House 
of  Commons  which  has  come  to  assume  the  supreme  author- 
ity in  the  Government. 

Secondly,  there  is  the  borough:  a  little  walled  town,  with 
its  gates  open  at  sunrise  and  closed  at  sunset;  and  within, 
a  huddle  of  high-roofed,  gabled,  wooden  houses  and  great 
churches,  and  narrow,  darkened  streets.  And  here  there 
grows  up  a  population  of  burgesses  with  a  continuous  tradi- 
tion, very  tenacious  of  their  rights  against  king  or  noble, 
and  with  increasing  assertion  of  their  authority  to  rule  the 
internal  affairs  of  their  own  community  as  they  please. 
They  pass,  indeed,  through  a  dark  time  when  the  general 
body  of  the  citizens  are  being  deprived  of  power,  and  for  cen- 
turies the  city  life  is  both  inert  and  corrupt,  far  different 
from  the  great  semi-independent  cities  of  the  Continent. 
But  in  the  end  they  assert  their  power  again,  and  grow  in 
vigour  and  strength,  and  forget  the  days  of  their  limitations, 
and  only  remember  the  tradition  of  a  splendid  past. 

And  there  is,  thirdly,  the  parish,  at  first  almost  entirely 
ecclesiastical  in  character,  centring  in  the  parish  church 
and  parish  priest ;  and  coming  gradually  to  cut  up  into 
parishes  the  whole  land  of  England,  less  for  civil  than  for 
religious  purposes ;  in  order  that  no  single  human  soul 
should  be  left  without  the  right  to  the  ministrations  of  some 
priest  at  the  periods  in  life  and  death  when  such  ministra- 
tions were  necessary  for  salvation.  The  great  Elizabethan 
Poor  Law  threw  on  these  parishes  a  work  not  religious,  but 
secular :  as  perhaps  a  substitute  for  the  old  religious  charity 
of  the  destroyed  and  disendowed  monasteries.  For  by  this 
law  these  parishes  were  made  each  to  support  their  own 
poor,  and  to  appoint  overseers  of  the  poor,  who  were  to 
levy  a  rate  upon  the  property  of  the  parish,  in  order  to 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  55 

raise  the  moneys  required  to  keep  these  poor  from  starva- 
tion. 

The  second  great  Poor  Law  of  1834,  although  it 
completely  changed  the  methods  by  which  the  poor  were 
to  be  kept  from  starvation,  retained  the  old  parish  or 
parochial  settlement  system,  only  uniting  parishes  together 
to  form  Poor  Law  Unions  in  order  to  provide  larger 
economic  areas.  But  the  "Overseers  of  the  Poor"  who 
carried  out  this  work,  remained  as  the  officials  who  con- 
ducted the  valuation  of  property  upon  which  the  poor  rate 
was  based  in  proportion  to  the  value  set  upon  it.  And  all 
the  rates  which  have  since  been  levied  have  been  in  the  past, 
and  are  still  to  a  large  extent  today,  founded  on  the  valua- 
tion and  assessment  made  by  the  overseers  for  the  purposes 
of  the  Poor  Law. 

These  overseers  had  also  the  duty  of  making  up  the  pa- 
rochial register,  which  provided  the  list  of  voters  at  the  time 
when  voting  depended  on  the  property  qualification,  repre- 
sented by  the  amount  at  which  house  or  land  was  valued  by 
the  overseers  for  the  poor  rate.  And  that  also  remained 
until  yesterday,  and  in  part  remains  today,  the  means  by 
which  lists  of  voters  are  made. 

Although  I  cannot  pretend  to  give  even  the  outline  of  the 
history  of  the  past  hundred  years  which  have  created  out 
of  the  shires,  parishes,  and  cities,  the  present  authorities  in 
local  and  central  government,  a  few  relevant  facts  and  dates 
may  perhaps  be  helpful. 

In  1832  the  great  Reform  Bill  started  the  whole  ma- 
chinery of  change  in  both  central  and  local  government. 
Roughly  summarized,  this  disfranchised  a  number  of  "rotten" 
and  non-existent  boroughs,  abolished  much  of  the  corrupt 
"freeman's"  vote,  and  distributed  the  seats  thus  made  vacant, 


56      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

among  the  counties  and  the  new  great  towns.  It  transferred 
power  from  the  great  landed  proprietors  to  the  shop-keepers, 
manufacturers,  professional  classes  and  farmers.  In  other 
words,  in  commonly  accepted  jargon,  it  put  the  middle 
classes  into  power.  These  middle  classes  reigned  supreme 
for  some  thirty  years.  In  1867  Disraeli's  Reform  Bill,  com- 
pletely transformed  in  character  by  the  House  of  Commons 
of  the  day,  extended  the  vote  practically  to  household  suf- 
frage in  the  towns,  thereby  partially  transferring  the  centre 
of  power  to  the  artizans  in  the  cities ;  while  maintaining  the 
rateable  value  standard  at  such  a  height  as  to  exclude  the 
low-rated  cottages  of  the  agricultural  labourers.  For 
the  next  twenty  years  the  power  is  in  the  hands  of  these 
town  workmen,  who  satisfied  their  desire  by  putting,  first, 
Gladstone  into  power  in  1869,  then  Disraeli  into  power  in 
1874,  then  Gladstone  in  power  again  six  years  after.  In 
1884  the  third  great  extension  of  the  franchise  took  place, 
giving  the  vote  for  the  first  time  especially  to  two  classes, 
the  lodgers  who  occupied  no  house  and  paid  no  rates  in 
the  towns,  and  the  labourers  occupying  low-rated  cottages 
in  the  country.  This,  the  greatest  extension  of  all,  and  the 
one  most  feared  by  the  propertied  classes,  resulted  in  the  Con- 
servative party  being  in  power  for  over  sixteen  years  of  the 
next  twenty  succeeding.  Finally,  in  1918,  came  the  biggest 
of  all  franchise  reform  Bills,  which  established  the  system 
as  I  have  described  it.  It  has  practically  established  man- 
hood suffrage,  and  an  enormous  addition  of  women  voters. 
Only  one  further  change  is  conceivable.  In  a  Bill  making 
the  qualifying  age  of  the  woman  voter  the  same  as  that  of 
the  man,  giving  the  woman  exactly  the  same  qualification  as 
a  man,  and  clearing  up  minor  anomalies  as  to  residence,  it 
will  be  easy  to  effect  complete  adult  suffrage.  This  should 
see  the  end  of  the  emancipating  process  which  it  has  taker 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  57 

a  hundred  years  to  complete,  for  beyond  this  Democracy  can 
no  further  go. 

The  middle-class  Parliaments  were,  on  the  whole,  Liberal 
or  Radical  in  character,  and  effected  certain  changes  which 
are  still  the  subjects  of  political  controversy,  such  as,  for 
example,  the  giving  of  Free  Trade;  which  was,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  effected  by  a  Tory  Prime  Minister.  But  their  chief 
title  to  fame  rests,  perhaps,  in  that  reform  of  local  govern- 
ment in  England  which  is  now  recognized  by  men  of  all 
parties  to  have  been  essential  for  the  welfare  of  the  country. 
That  reform  was  not  effected  by  the  great  families,  Whig 
and  Tory,  with  whom  the  power  lay  previously,  and  it  was 
effected  without  the  support,  and  in  many  cases  with  the 
obvious  hostility  of  the  working  people ;  to  whom,  indeed,  it 
caused  the  suffering  produced  by  drastic  excision  of  a  run- 
ning sore.  As  I  have  said,  they  found  an  inheritance  of 
three  elements  disconnected  with  each  other.  The  first  were 
the  parishes  in  which  the  overseers,  nominally  elected  by 
practically  defunct  vestries  but  in  reality  controlled  by  the 
county  or  shire  authorities,  the  Justices  of  the  Peace,  were 
committed  to  an  overwhelming  burden  of  a  poor  rate  for  a 
system  in  which  those  who  worked  supported  those  who 
were  idle,  and  those  who  supported  themselves  were  mulcted 
in  huge  sums  to  pay  in  effect  part  of  the  wages  of  those  who 
worked  for  others. 

They  found,  secondly,  the  counties  or  shires  controlled  by 
the  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  run  from  Quarter  Sessions. 
These  Justices  were  appointed  for  life  by  the  Crown  from 
the  big  owners  of  land,  and  combined  the  work  of  administer- 
ing justice  with  that  of  maintaining  local  government. 

In  the  midst  of  these  shires  or  counties  there  had  grown  up 
great  masses  of  urban  populations  in  the  new  industries  out- 
side the  old  cities,  with  water  supply,  drainage,  houses, 


58      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

public  health,  etc.,  in  an  appalling  condition,  only  modified, 
if  at  all,  by  the  work  of  "Improvement  Commissioners,"  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose  by  the  Central  Government,  and 
with  the  power  of  levying  a  rate  to  mitigate  the  most  for- 
midable evils. 

In  the  cities  themselves,  among  the  old  municipalities, 
with  their  charters  and  their  corporate  life,  they  found  things 
still  more  chaotic.  The  ancient  tradition  of  a  town  con- 
trolled by  the  votes  of  all  the  burgesses  in  it,  had  largely 
perished.  Each  city  was  controlled  by  a  tiny  minority  of 
"freemen,"  mainly  created  because  they  were  bribable  for 
Parliamentary  purposes.  The  whole  presented  an  unpar- 
alleled combination  of  inefficiency  and  corruption.  So  far 
as  they  administered  the  life  of  the  town  at  all,  it  was  al- 
most entirely  confined  to  the  control  of  the  very  inadequate 
police,  and  of  whatever  corporate  revenues  the  town  pos- 
sessed. Of  all  the  commonplace  apparatus  of  civic  life  to- 
day, the  provision  of  pure  water,  of  an  efficient  sewage  sys- 
tem, of  paving  and  lighting  the  streets,  of  dealing  with  infec- 
tious diseases,  of  parks  and  playgrounds  and  baths  and 
libraries,  of  a  standard  of  house  accommodation  or  house 
decay,  they  knew  and  cared  nothing,  and  would  have  been 
amazed  at  the  assertion  that  a  municipality  or  town  council 
had  any  authority  or  obligation  to  interfere  in  these  matters. 
Disease  was  endemic  in  the  crowded  warrens  where  the  poor 
lived.  It  spread  at  intervals  to  the  region  of  the  wealthier 
classes.  At  intervals,  such  products  of  dirt  and  insanitation 
as  cholera,  a  dreaded  name  in  the  England  of  that  period, 
swept  through  these  cities  with  the  force  and  terror  of  the 
mediaeval  plague. 

The  first  attack  of  the  first  Parliament  of  reform  was  on 
the  first  of  these  evils,  which  was  indeed  bringing  the  social 
life  of  England  to  almost  irretrievable  ruin.  The  great 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  59 

Elizabethan  Poor  Law  of  1602  had  been,  perhaps,  the  most 
remarkable  piece  of  communal  charitable  effort  devised  by 
any  modern  State.  The  community  definitely  took  upon! 
itself  the  responsibility  of  arranging  that  no  men  or  women 
should  perish  of  hunger  or  cold  in  the  cities  or  country-side 
of  England;  and  it  threw  upon  each  parish  the  obligation 
of  maintaining  its  own  poor.  But  after  two  hundred  years 
of  effective  operation  it  had  fallen  upon  evil  days.  In  some 
cases  there  were  more  poor  than  parish.  In  others,  masses 
of  idle  men,  women,  and  children,  were  kept  doing  nothing 
at  all  at  the  expense  of  the  industrious.  In  others,  the 
children  of  the  parish  were  hired  out  in  gangs  to  factory, 
mine,  or  workshop,  who  were  glad  to  use  their  labour  in  re- 
turn for  their  keep.  In  others,  again — and  this  perhaps 
was  the  most  fatal  system — the  poor  of  the  parish  were 
let  out  to  farmers  or  other  employers  under  arrangements 
by  which  the  farmers  paid  impossibly  low  wages,  and  the 
rates  paid  the  supplement  necessary  for  living  at  all. 
In  other  words,  all  men  were  fined  in  order  that  the  farmer 
should  be  provided  with  the  cheap  semi-servile  labour  of  an 
ever-growing  pauper  class  threatening  to  reduce  whole  par- 
ishes to  bankruptcy. 

The  new  reform  Parliament  united  the  parishes  into  big 
Poor  Law  Unions  for  poor  law  purposes.  It  created 
"Guardians  of  the  Poor"  to  administer  poor  law  relief.  It 
prohibited  relief  being  given  to  the  able-bodied,  and  by  com- 
pelling these  to  come  into  the  "workhouse"  as  a  condition  of 
receiving  assistance,  it  destroyed  the  whole  system  of  provid- 
ing out  of  the  poor  rate  a  levy  in  aid  of  wages. 

The  operation  was  drastic,  and  extraordinarily  unpopular. 
One  may  judge  that  they  went  too  far  in  the  purely  penal 
and  almost  brutal  elements  of  terrifying  men  away  from  any 
public  assistance,  and  substituting  fear  rather  than  com- 


60      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

passion  as  the  sole  relationship  between  the  State  and  its 
least  fortunate  citizens.  The  English  poor  passed  through 
a  stage  of  intense  suffering;  of  a  revolutionary  agitation 
born  of  that  suffering,  which  nearly  overthrew  the  social 
order;  and  of  a  great  emigration  which  probably  alone 
averted  that  upheaval.  "In  want,  in  terror,  and  with  a 
sense  of  the  crushing  injustice  of  the  times,"  is  the  testimony 
of  a  contemporary  writing  of  these  emigrants,  "they  cursed 
the  land  in  which  they  had  been  born." 

The  middle  classes  who  supported  these  reformers  were 
not  entirely  innocent  of  the  imputation  that  so  long  as  they 
were  freed  from  the  burden  of  paying  the  poor  rate  they 
did  not  much  care  what  happened  to  the  poor.  But  the 
conditions  were  hazardous.  The  system  devised  by  these 
men  has  lived  to  this  day.  And  experience  has  proved  that 
although  there  may  be  open  great  opportunities,  hitherto 
neglected,  for  wise  and  compassionate  treatment  of  the  very 
poor,  it  was  an  immense  reform  which  lifted  the  bulk  of  the 
working  classes  from  the  condition  of  rate-aided  paupers 
to  that  of  independent,  free  citizens. 

The  reformers  proceeded  always  by  the  same  method. 
They  first  appointed  Royal  Commissions  of  a  number  of 
men  of  high  position  and  integrity  who  reported  to  the 
nation  the  actual  facts  of  the  case.  These  facts,  in  an  Eng- 
land without  railways,  telegraphs,  cheap  postage,  or  a 
popular  newspaper  press,  were  scarcely  known  to  the  general 
public.  In  the  immediate  shock  and  scandal  of  the  revela- 
tions, they  pushed  through  changes  which  would  probably 
never  have  been  effected  in  any  normal  atmosphere. 

Prom  their  attack  on  Poor  Law  administration  in  the 
parishes,  they  passed  to  an  attack  on  the  administration 
in  the  towns.  And  the  revelation  of  chaos  and  corruption 
of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1833  resulted  in  the  Municipal 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  61 

Corporations  Act  of  1835 ;  "a  change,"  says  a  brilliant  for- 
eign observer,  "as  great  as  the  Reform  Act  of  1832,  or  the 
Poor  Law  of  1834."  They  found,  for  example,  great  cities 
ruled  by  tiny  bodies  of  "freemen,"  many  of  whom  were 
poor,  bribable  and  habitually  bribed.  So  that,  for  ex- 
ample, in  a  city  like  Plymouth  of  75,000  persons,  control 
was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  437  freemen,  of  whom  145  were 
non-resident.  They  found  the  municipal  revenues  utilized 
for  banquets  and  junketings,  and  the  corporate  income 
turned  to  the  profit  of  individuals,  or  spent  in  bribery  and 
illegal  practices  at  Parliamentary  elections.  Such  inherit- 
ances as  the  ancient  educational  endowments  were  subjected 
to  similar  treatment.  At  Derby  the  school  only  contained 
one  pupil,  and  in  Coventry  an  endowment  of  nearly  £1,000 
a  year  was  expended  on  two  masters  teaching  one  scholar. 

Their  report  in  its  summary  affirmed  that  in  the  great 
majority  of  the  towns  there  was  a  general  and  just  dissatis- 
faction with  municipal  institutions,  a  distrust  of  the  self- 
elected  municipal  councils,  a  distrust  of  the  municipal 
magistracy  "tainting  with  suspicion  the  local  administration 
of  justice,  and  often  accompanied  with  contempt  of  the  per- 
sons by  whom  the  law  was  administered,  and  discontent  under 
the  burdens  of  local  taxation;  while  revenues  that  ought  to 
be  applied  to  the  public  advantage  are  diverted  from  their 
legitimate  use,  and  are  sometimes  wastefully  bestowed  for 
the  benefit  of  individuals,  sometimes  squandered  for  purposes 
injurious  to  the  character  and  morals  of  the  people."  "We 
therefore  feel  it  to  be  our  duty,"  is  the  historic  and  scathing 
indictment,  "to  represent  to  your  Majesty  that  the  existing 
municipal  corporations  of  England  and  Wales  neither 
possess  nor  deserve  the  confidence  nor  respect  of  your  Maj- 
esty's subjects,  and  that  a  thorough  reform  must  be  effected 
before  they  can  become  what  we  humbly  submit  to  your 


62      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Majesty  they  ought  to  be,  useful  and  efficient  instruments  of 
local  government." 

The  Bill  which  swept  away  this  astonishing  system 
practically  established  the  government  of  the  cities  as  we 
know  it  today.  It  provided  Town  Councils  elected  by  the 
local  community  of  the  town,  and  responsible  to  this  com- 
munity. All  later  changes  have  been  merely  directed  to 
the  effort  to  enlarge  the  definition  of  a  burgess,  so  as  to 
draw  more  and  more  of  the  citizens  into  civic  responsibility. 
It  separated  the  administration  of  justice  from  the  work  of 
civic  development.  And  while  maintaining  the  principle 
that  the  former  should  be  in  the  hands  of  men  nominated  by 
the  Crown,  gave  the  whole  of  the  latter  work  to  the  town 
itself,  subject  only  to  the  fundamental  key  principle  of 
English  public  life,  that  administration  can  only  take  place 
within  the  limits  of  law.  If  any  attempt  was  made  to  tres- 
pass outside  those  limits,  any  aggrieved  private  citizen  could 
challenge  the  most  powerful  corporation  in  the  land,  and 
obtain  redress  before  the  High  Court  of  Justice. 

And  in  constructing  thus  a  popularly  elected  council, 
responsible  to  the  whole  body  of  citizens,  meeting  in  public, 
and  with  publicly  audited  accounts,  it  constructed  a  body 
upon  which  there  was  no  difficulty  in  laying  responsibility 
for  a  whole  series  of  new  functions  of  communal  action, 
growing  with  the  growing  desire  for  comfort  and  civilized! 
life.  So  that  now,  as  I  shall  describe,  in  the  case  of  every 
citizen,  the  food  he  eats,  the  clothes  he  wears,  the  lighting, 
water  supply  and  drainage  of  his  houses,  the  habitable  con- 
dition of  these  houses  themselves,  the  condition  of  the  streets 
outside  them,  the  provision  of  all  kinds  of  measures  for 
physical  development  and  mental  culture,  all  legally  come 
under  the  survey  of,  or  are  actively  maintained  by,  the  ap- 

i  Report   Municipal  Corporations  Commissioner  1835,  p.  49. 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  63 

paratus  of  municipal  life  controlled  by  his  elected  representa- 
tives on  the  Town  Council.  Nay,  more.  Such  bodies  hav- 
ing been  formed  representing  the  corporate  desire  of  enter- 
prising and  progressive  cities,  they  have  themselves  pushed 
forward  in  demanding  powers  of  communal  activity  quite 
apart  from  duties  laid  upon  them  by  general  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment. And  not  a  year  has  passed  in  which  many  towns 
have  not  promoted  Private  Bills  or  Provisional  Orders 
(whose  meaning  and  working  I  will  describe  later)  authoriz- 
ing them  to  some  fresh,  new  municipal  enterprises ;  here,  to 
start  eletric  lighting;  there,  to  control  a  milk  supply;  there, 
again,  to  acquire  land  for  the  town  development,  or  to  make 
arrangements  for  cheap  sale  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  The 
extraordinary  vigour  and  life  which  came  into  the  govern- 
ment of  the  English  cities  when  once  that  government  was 
made  clean  and  incorruptible,  and  exposed  always  to  the 
sunlight  of  publicity,  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  ex- 
ample of  the  progress  of  civilization  in  England  for  the 
past  hundred  years. 

I  can  but  hastily  glance  over  the  main  features  of  this 
change.  The  first  was  the  development  of  the  combat  in 
favour  of  public  health,  aggravated  always  by  epidemics  of 
cholera,  and  the  hideous  revelations  of  the  conditions  of 
the  city  slum.  The  "model  Acts"  of  1845  contain  model 
clauses  which  local  authorities  might  adopt.  The  Public 
Health  Act  of  1848  was  as  much  driven  through  Parliament 
by  the  cholera  epidemic  which  preceded  it,  as  the  abolition 
of  the  Corn  Laws  was  driven  through  Parliament  by  the 
Irish  famine.  The  Town  Councils  became  the  local  sanitary 
authorities.  In  the  neglected  city  areas  outside  the  towns, 
local  Boards  of  Health  were  established.  And  a  central 
authority  was  formed  to  "ginger  up"  the  standard  of  public 
health,  which  was  ultimately  to  be  merged  with  the  Poor 


64       HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Law  Commissioners  into  the  Local  Government  Board. 
Progress  was  still  slow  and  chaotic,  and  measures  for  the 
betterment  of  the  health  of  the  people  were  left  for  ad- 
ministration among  a  mass  of  local  authorities.  Finally, 
in  the  great  Public  Health  Act  of  1875,  with  its  343  sections 
and  five  schedules,  the  whole  code  of  English  sanitary  law 
was  established  in  a  form  substantially  unaltered  until  this 
day. 

During  all  this  time  also,  the  Central  Authority  was  gain- 
ing power  over  the  municipalities,  less  by  the  mere  brutal 
issue  of  commands  that  must  be  obeyed,  than  by  the  grant- 
ing of  monetary  bribes  on  conditions  which  it  could  insist 
upon,  and  in  violation  of  which  it  could  withdraw.  These 
grants-in-aid  were  given  for  a  variety  of  purposes,  changing 
from  time  to  time.  They  were  given  on  the  plea  that  these 
purposes  were  national  rather  than  local.  But  the  actual 
reason  for  their  bestowal  was,  in  the  main,  the  persistent 
demand  of  the  owners  of  land  to  be  relieved  from  the  increas- 
ing burden  of  these  public  imposts,  and  to  shift  some  of  it 
from  the  rates,  which  fell  heavily  on  land  and  real  property 
only,  to  the  taxes  to  which  all  other  forms  of  wealth  contrib- 
ute. Thus,  "grants-in-aid"  came  to  be  made,  continually 
increasing,  for  the  education  of  the  poor,  although  these 
not  directly  to  the  municipalities,  until  in  the  Education 
Act  of  1902  these  municipalities  were  entrusted  with  the 
work.  Grants  were  made  for  the  expense  of  the  police,  for 
a  portion  of  the  salaries  of  the  medical  officers  of  health, 
for  the  keeping  up  of  the  main  roads,  for  the  maintenance 
of  pauper  lunatics,  and  for  like  purposes.  And  even  today 
the  proportion  of  such  grants  to  local  expenditure,  and  even 
the  nature  of  the  subject  of  expenditure,  is  a  matter  of 
continual  controversy  not  in  the  least  degree  settled.  The 
owners  of  land  and  houses  continually  agitate  for  larger 


LOCAL  AUTHORITIES  65 

grants,  or  for  the  taking  over  of  whole  enterprises  by  the 
Central  Government  in  order  that  they  may  be  relieved  of 
the  payment  of  high  rates.  The  rest  of  the  community 
oppose  changes  which  would  cause  them  to  pay  more  money 
for  the  advantage  of  the  landowner. 

The  great  reforming  Parliament  thus  established  order 
and  a  democratic  system  in  two  of  the  three  units  of  English 
local  government;  the  incorporated  cities  on  the  one  hand, 
the  parishes  in  so  far  as  they  were  used  for  Poor  Law 
administration,  joined  in  Unions,  on  the  other.  They  left 
the  county  or  shire  severely  alone,  under  the  rule  of  the 
nominated  Justices  of  the  Peace.  They  left  the  parish  as 
an  entity  apart  from  its  representation  in  the  Poor  Law 
Union  to  dwindle  and  disappear.  Their  successors  allowed 
to  grow  up  an  enormous  number  of  (in  popular  jargon)  ad 
hoc  authorities,  created  for  specific  purposes — Local  Boards, 
School  Boards,  Highway  Authorities  and  the  like.  In  the 
early  eighties,  an  intelligent  reformer  could  still  describe 
British  local  government  as  "a  chaos  of  areas,  a  chaos  of 
franchises,  a  chaos  of  authorities,  and  a  chaos  of  rates." 
This  confusion  was  straightened  out  by  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Act  of  1888,  with  its  Supplement  creating  the  County 
Council  of  London ;  and  by  the  Parish  Councils  Act  of  1894. 
Briefly,  these  two  measures  applied  to  the  regions  outside 
the  towns  the  same  system  of  popular  local  government 
which,  within  these  towns,  had  worked  so  well.  Elected 
County  Councils  replaced  the  old  nominated  rule  of  Quarter 
Sessions  in  the  counties.  The  Sanitary  Authorities  and 
Local  Boards  in  the  town  regions,  which  had  not  yet  become 
cities,  were  formed  into  Urban  District  Councils,  with  prac- 
tically the  same  machinery  of  government  as  the  city  itself. 
In  rural  areas  these  were  made  Rural  District  Councils, 
which  were,  in  fact,  the  Guardians  operating  under  another 


66      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

name.  And  a  belated  and,  as  it  has  proved,  not  very  success- 
ful attempt  was  made  to  revive  the  tiniest  unit  of  Christian 
society  in  an  effort  to  re-create  the  life  of  the  village  through 
the  Parish  Council  and  the  Parish  Meeting. 

These  organizations  remain  practically  unchanged  today. 
The  history  of  the  subsequent  thirty  years  is  merely  that  of 
the  heaping  of  fresh  functions  upon  them;  the  work  of 
primary  and  secondary  education,  the  relief  of  the  un- 
employed outside  the  Poor  Law,  the  provision  of  houses  for 
the  working  classes,  the  continuous  enlargement  of  their 
duty  towards  the  preservation  of  the  health  of  the  commun- 
ity. It  is  the  practical  operation,  day  by  day,  of  bodies 
with  such  a  strange  and  chequered  past  history  which  I 
shall  now  attempt  to  describe. 


CHAPTER     V 
HOW      THE      CITY     IS      GOVEENED 

(a)  THE  POWER  OF  THE  COUNCIL 

The  Town  Council,  under  the  same  essential  form  of 
administration,  governs  city  populations  enormously  vary- 
ing in  numbers  and  in  area,  and  with  very  different  powers 
legally  exercised  and  energies  with  which  these  powers  are 
used.  A  tiny  borough,  little  more  than  a  village,  but  with 
an  ancient  and  sometimes  splendid  history,  will  exhibit  its 
Mayor  and  Corporation,  its  apparatus  of  decoration  and 
display,  its  ancient  charters  and  privileges,  with  as  much 
courage  and  pride  as  one  of  those  huge  aggregates  of  people 
which  contain  within  their  areas  a  tenth  or  a  twentieth  of 
the  inhabitants  of  England. 

The  essential  form  is  this:  First,  that  the  Council  is 
representative  of  the  burgesses  of  the  borough;  and  is 
assumed  to  carry  out  the  wish  of  the  burgesses  in  the  activi- 
ties it  exhibits,  or  the  powers  it  demands,  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  common  life  of  that  borough.  Secondly,  that 
its  function  is  to  give  decisions,  and  decisions  as  far  as 
possible  after  open  discussion;  first  perhaps  in  committees, 
but  on  all  important  issues  in  the  Council  itself.  And  in 
such  discussions  the  inhabitants  of  the  borough  shall  be 
freely  admitted  to  hear  the  arguments  for  and  against 
discussed,  and  the  local  newspapers  be  freely  allowed  to 

report  the  same.     Generally  it  is  established  that  its  work 

67 


68       HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

shall  be  done  in  the  light  of  publicity,  so  that  nothing  shall 
be  done  in  hole  and  corner  fashion  by  a  Council;  which 
is  assumed,  in  its  daily  work,  to  be  the  servant  of  the  public, 
and  not  its  master.  And  thirdly,  the  work  of  the  elected 
Councillors  themselves  shall  be  purely  that  of  decision  upon 
administration,  and  the  maintenance  of  efficiency;  but  that 
the  actual  work  of  carrying  out  these  decisions  in  detail 
shall  be  left  to  a  municipal  service  of  paid  employees,  con- 
trolled by  some  permanent  executive  officers,  who  take  no 
part  in  actual  municipal  politics,  but  who  carry  out  loyally 
the  decisions  of  the  Council  whatever  its  particular  com- 
plexion may  be  at  the  moment. 

Beyond  this,  two  fundamental  facts  remain  which  together 
distinguish  the  civic  life  of  Britain  from  that  of  every  other 
country  except  those  which  have  inherited  or  adopted  the 
British  tradition.  The  one  is  the  independence  of  local 
government,  in  the  main  current  of  its  ordinary  duties,  of 
any  central  authority.  In  France,  for  example,  the  Mayor 
(Maire),  or  chief  ruler  of  even  the  tiniest  village  or  town 
in  the  remotest  corner,  is  appointed  by  the  Central  Govern- 
ment in  Paris,  and  is  responsible  to  that  Government  for 
the  way  in  which  he  carries  out  his  duties.  In  Germany, 
before  the  war,  the  paid  Burgomeister,  who  largely  main- 
tained the  activity  of  the  town,  was  responsible  to  the  State 
Government  for  the  efficiency  of  that  town;  and  efficient 
Burgomeisters  were  promoted  from  administering  small 
communities  to  ruling  over  great  cities.  There  was  thus 
formed  a  trained,  expert,  skilled  Burgomeister  service,  with 
specialized  knowledge  of  all  municipal  problems.  In  Eng- 
land the  system  is  defiantly  different.  The  local  manu- 
facturer, the  local  shop-keeper,  now,  with  Labour  seizing 
power,  often  the  local  artizan  and  unskilled  labourer  is 
elected,  for  a  year,  Mayor  of  a  great  town.  The  Central 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  69 

Authority,  the  Ministry  of  Health  (late  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board),  has  no  voice  at  all  in  his  selection,  and  can 
neither  approve  nor  veto  his  appointment.  The  Mayor, 
Aldermen,  and  Town  Councillors,  form  a  local  Corporation, 
which,  so  long  as  it  keeps  within  the  law,  can  defy  all  in- 
terference from  the  Central  Authority;  and  which  can  even 
fail  to  carry  out  many  of  the  functions  imposed  by  law 
upon  it  without  the  Central  Authority  having,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  any  practicable  means  of  redress.  That  Central 
Authority  has  no  power  of  appointing  representatives  on 
the  Corporation.  It  cannot  interfere  with  the  officials 
appointed  by  that  Corporation  except  in  so  far  as  the 
salaries  of  some  of  them  are  in  part  paid  from  the  central 
funds  of  the  State  raised  from  the  taxpayer.  It  cannot 
prevent  the  rates  levied  on  the  burgesses  rising  to  any  ex- 
travagant sum,  so  long  as  these  burgesses  maintain  in  power 
by  their  votes  the  men  who  are  levying  these  extortions. 

And  on  the  other  hand,  the  Central  Authority  cannot 
in  practice  prevent  the  whole  duties  laid  by  the  Government 
upon  every  municipality  in  relation  to  public  health,  housing 
of  the  poor,  and  other  essentials  being  scamped  or  neglected 
by  any  town  made  up  of  a  body  of  burgesses  determined  only 
that,  whatever  happens,  they  will  keep  the  rates  down.  It 
can,  indeed,  hold  inquiries  in  face  of  definite  charges  of  cor- 
ruption, and  with  infinite  difficulty  can  produce  a  case  in 
which  the  Crown  intervenes  to  prosecute,  and  the  guilty  are 
punished.  It  has  taken  power  in  theory  in  most  modern 
Acts  of  Parliament,  if  a  town  neglects  its  legal  duty,  either 
to  transfer  the  work  to  another  authority,  or  to  step  in 
and  do  the  work  itself,  charging  the  town  with  the  cost. 
Or  it  may  adopt  a  lengthy,  expensive,  and  clumsy  legal 
procedure  by  which  it  compels  the  High  Court  of  Justice 
to  "mandamus"  the  Council;  that  is,  to  issue  a  writ  com- 


70      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

manding  the  Council,  under  threat  of  legal  penalty,  to 
administer  the  law  as  it  was  intended  to  be  administered. 
But  in  practice,  except  in  extraordinarily  provocative  cases, 
generally  of  small  and  unimportant  Councils,  and  then 
rather  as  a  threat  of  reprisals  than  an  actual  use  of  them, 
these  interventions  rarely  occur.  The  municipalities  are 
allowed  to  carry  out  the  Acts  which  they  administer  with 
the  widest  possible  variations.  It  may  be  generally  affirmed 
that,  so  long  as  each  one  of  them  retains  the  support  of  its 
citizens,  it  is  allowed  to  make  its  own  heaven  or  its  own  hell. 

On  the  other  hand,  though  thus  given  elasticity  in  the 
carrying  out  of  the  law,  each  City  Council  is  most  rigorously 
bound  not  to  go  one  jot  or  tittle  beyond  the  limits  which 
the  law  allows.  It  has  no  power  at  all  itself  of  modifying 
law,  except  in  so  far  as  Parliament  has  itself  given  it  that 
power  by  specific  statement  in  an  Act  itself.  Nor  can  this 
power  be  given  it  by  the  Central  Authority,  except  in  so 
far  as  Parliament  has  entrusted  that  Central  Authority 
with  such  modifications.  There  are  no  subordinate  legisla- 
tures in  England;  there  is  only  the  Central  Parliament. 

Most  of  the  towns  have  indeed  special  laws  under  which 
their  Corporations  can  act.  But  each  of  these  special  laws 
has  not  been  made  by  the  Corporations  themselves,  but  has 
been  passed  by  the  Central  Parliament  in  London.  If  a 
Council  desires  a  modification  of  these  old  laws,  or  the 
making  of  new  ones,  it  has  to  go  to  the  Parliament  irf 
London.  And  that  Parliament  decides  as  it  pleases,  and 
not  as  the  Corporation  pleases.  So  that  even  if  the  Town 
Council  was  unanimous,  and  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
living  in  the  borough  in  favour  of  the  Bill  which  was  to 
give  it  special  powers,  a  Parliament  in  which  that  borough 
has  only  one  member  in  seven  hundred,  and  with  no  more 
voice  on  this  Bill  than  a  member  living  four  hundred  miles 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  71 

away  from  it,  might  sweep  the  whole  thing  away  with  the 
utmost  good  humour  or  contempt.  And  the  borough  would 
have  no  authority  to  which  to  appeal  against  this  decision 
of  Parliament;  and  no  resource  but  to  accept  its  defeat,  or 
to  make  further  attempts  year  after  year  to  convince  Parlia- 
ment that  it  was  right.  Before  such  a  decision  of 
Parliament  even  the  Central  Government  is  powerless. 

Nor  has  the  Central  Government  any  general  power  of 
absolving  the  Town  Councils  from  the  penalties  of  any 
illegal  act,  or  of  giving  them  power  to  do  things  which  are 
outside  the  powers  given  them  in  Parliament  itself.  There 
is  no  droit  administratif  in  England.  It  is  true  that  in  a 
certain  number  of  limited  cases,  a  citizen  who  thinks  himself 
injured  by  the  act  of  a  Council — as,  for  example,  if  a  house 
he  owns  has  been  closed  as  unfit  for  human  habitation — is 
given  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  the  right  to  appeal  against 
such  a  verdict  to  the  Central  Authority  alone,  and  that  if 
the  Central  Authority  decides  against  him,  its  decision  is 
final.  But  these  cases  are  few,  and  have  been  very  strongly 
criticized.  They  apply  to  matters  of  fact  only,  and  not 
to  matters  of  law ;  that  is  to  say,  of  whether  a  law  has  been 
rightly  carried  out,  and  not  to  the  question  whether  the 
Council  has  gone  outside  the  rights  and  limits  imposed  by 
the  law.  And  with  all  the  brave  words  used  in  such  Statutes, 
it  is  still  exceedingly  doubtful  whether  in  actual  practice 
Parliament  can  impose  such  finality,  and  so  shut  out  an 
aggrieved  citizen  from  the  common  court  of  justice.  There 
are  all  kinds  of  ways  by  which  clever  lawyers  can,  in  any 
special  case,  evade  what  was  evidently  the  general  intention 
of  Parliament  in  making  such  a  prohibition,  and  find  an 
avenue  by  which  their  clients  can,  by  some  way  or  other, 
present  their  plea  for  justice  before  an  impartial  legal 
tribunal. 


72      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

But  apart  from  such  special  cases  as  these,  the  whole 
apparatus  of  administration  of  English  municipal  life  lies 
vulnerable  to  the  attack  of  any  injured  or  offended  citizen. 
He  does  not  appeal  to  the  Central  Government  against  the 
Council,  nor  does  he  appeal  to  Parliament.  He  appeals  to 
the  High  Court  of  Justice,  which  is  equally  indifferent  to 
the  desires  of  this  one  or  the  intentions  of  the  other.  If 
the  appeal  is  on  a  point  of  law,  the  sole  object  of  the  High 
Court  is  to  determine  whether  the  Council,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  is  carrying  out  the  law  as  embodied  in  the  actual 
words  of  a  Statute  passed  by  Parliament.  It  has  no  concern 
with  the  good  intention  or  the  bad  intention  of  the  Council. 
It  has  no  concern  with  whether  it  thinks  the  law  good  or 
bad.  It  has  no  concern  even  with  whether  Parliament  in- 
tended the  words  to  mean  what  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  do 
mean.  The  famous  enactment  in  the  "Mikado"  declared  that 
all  who  attempted  to  encompass  the  death  of  the  Heir- 
Apparent  should  be  boiled  in  oil,  or  perish  by  "something 
lingering  and  humorous."  It  may  be  "a  fool  of  a  law," 
as  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Titipu  said;  and  he  may  comfort  the 
victims  of  it  by  assuring  them  it  will  be  changed  next  Session. 
Meanwhile,  however,  they  are  boiled  in  oil. 

Laws  which  have  been  administered  with  a  certain 
interpretation  for  years,  and  even  decades,  without  any 
complaint,  may  thus  suddenly  be  swept  aside  by  the  action 
of  some  individual  who,  from  caprice  or  public  spirit,  chal- 
lenges their  validity  in  the  High  Court.  The  most  famous 
instance  was  the  notorious  Cockerton  Judgment,  in  which 
the  expenditure  on  higher  education  which  the  School  Boards 
had  indulged  in  for  many  years  was  suddenly  declared 
illegal,  and  they  were  prohibited  from  spending  another 
farthing  on  it.  In  similar  fashion,  when  the  London  County 
Council  started  running  lines  of  omnibuses  without  a  special 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  73 

permissive  Act,  on  the  ingenious  plea  that,  as  these  were 
merely  feeding  the  termini  of  their  tramways,  they  there- 
fore were,  for  all  practical  purposes  tramways — and  if 
tramways,  why  not  say  so? — the  aggrieved  proprietors 
of  private  omnibuses  immediately  haled  them  into  Court 
and  swept  their  contentions  and  conveyances  away. 

What,  it  may  be  asked,  then,  can  the  unfortunate  Councils 
do;  hedged  as  they  appear  to  be  between  the  limitations  of 
Statutes  whose  meaning  even  their  creators  appear  but  im- 
perfectly to  comprehend?  Their  position,  in  practice, 
however,  is  not  so  hazardous  as  it  appears  in  theory.  Their 
chief  official  or  Town  Clerk  is  a  skilled  solicitor  versed  in 
the  law.  They  therefore  find  little  difficulty  in  carrying 
out  the  duties  laid  upon  them  so  long  as  they  do  not  attempt 
to  stray  into,  perhaps  more  attractive,  but  certainly  more 
hazardous  enterprises. 

The  laws  they  thus  administer  are  of  three  kinds.  There 
are,  first,  the  laws  which  are  laid  on  all  of  them  alike,  con- 
cerning which  they  have  no  choice,  and  which  in  theory, 
although,  as  I  have  said,  rarely  in  practice,  ought  to  reveal 
on  examination  a  uniform  standard  as  between  city  and 
city.  Such  are,  for  example,  most  of  the  laws  relating  to 
public  health,  or  the  provision  of  a  pure  water  supply,  or 
an  efficient  drainage  system.  There  are,  secondly,  Acts 
which  are  called  Adoptive  Acts;  that  is  to  say,  the  Town 
Council  may  adopt  the  Act  or  not  as  it  pleases.  Some  of 
these  are  hedged  round  with  precautions,  such  as  that,  if 
adopted,  the  special  cost  shall  not  exceed  a  certain  rate  in 
the  pound;  or  that  the  decision  shall  only  be  come  to  after 
the  approval  of  a  publicly  called  town's  meeting,  or  a 
"plebiscite"  of  the  whole  electorate.  Such  is,  for  example, 
the  Act  permitting  free  libraries  to  be  established,  or  the 
Act  allowing  the  municipalities  to  feed  the  children  who  are 


74      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

hungry.  In  these,  therefore,  there  is  a  quite  natural  and 
legal  variation  between  town  and  town;  although  in  these, 
which  mostly  offer  to  the  citizens,  as  a  result  of  adoption, 
something  of  advantage  to  the  whole  community,  there  is  a 
tendency  towards  uniformity ;  due  to  the  fact  that  "the  re- 
formers" of  each  town  are  always  agitating  that  it  shall  at- 
tain the  same  standard  as  its  neighbours;  and  pronounce 
that  town  to  be  disgraced  if  it  is  less  up-to-date  in  these  mat- 
ters than  they.  And  the  third  are  the  special  Acts  passed  by 
each  city  from  time  to  time  in  conformity  with  the  demands 
of  that  individual  city.  Such  special  Acts  have  been  passed 
for  centuries,  and  it  was  under  the  influence  of  these  that 
many  activities  now  legally  permitted  to  all  towns  first  be- 
came law  in  some  particular  town.  Some  of  them,  born  of 
the  particular  characteristics  of  the  town  itself,  deal  with 
ancient  endowments  or  peculiar  properties  of  the  town  by 
which  it  differs  from  others.  But  some,  on  the  other  hand, 
give  to  a  particular  town  or  towns  powers  to  do  things  which 
other  towns,  without  such  Acts,  do  not  possess ;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, to  run  municipal  electricity  undertakings,  or  to  sup- 
ply municipal  milk,  or  to  embark  on  some  special  form  of 
municipal  trading.  And  here,  therefore,  the  cities  have 
widely  different  powers  in  accordance  whether  they  have 
passed  such  Acts  or  no ;  Manchester,  for  example,  being  able 
to  carry  out  some  enterprise  which  is  illegal  in  Liverpool, 
because  Liverpool  has  never  asked  for  permission  to  do  it, 
or  has  been  denied. 

There  is  no  general  controlling  law  in  England  deciding 
what  a  Town  Council  in  general  may  or  may  not  do  under 
local  Acts  of  Parliament.  As  Parnell  once  told  an  Irish 
audience  that  he  could  set  no  limits  to  the  boundaries  of  a 
nation,  so  an  advocate  of  municipal  enterprise  could  tell  his 
delighted  supporters  that  no  limits  could  be  set  to  the  ad- 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  75 

vance  of  a  municipality.  Mr.  Chamberlain,  when  Mayor  of 
Birmingham,  broke  through  all  accepted  tradition  in  the 
powers  he  advocated  and  obtained  for  civic  enterprise  in 
that  city;  and  set  a  standard  which  caused  Birmingham  to 
be  hailed  for  many  years  as  the  Mecca  of  municipal  activity. 
The  limit  of  any  similar  civic  enthusiam  today  for  em- 
barking on  enterprises  which  no  city  has  hitherto  thought 
of  undertaking  is  merely  set  by  the  limits  of  its  power  of 
cajoling  Parliament;  to  give  it  special  permission  to  em- 
bark on  this  work  by  a  local  Act  of  Parliament. 

(6)  THE  COMPOSITION  or  THE  COUNCIL 

Every  year,  at  the  beginning  of  November,  elections  such 
as  I  have  described  are  held  in  all  the  boroughs  of  England 
to  elect  town  councillors.  These  councillors  are  elected 
each  for  three  years'  service,  and  one  third  of  them  retire 
every  year.1  There  is  thus  the  continuity  of  a  Council  which 
never  dies.  And  even  if  the  burgesses  reject  at  the  election 
every  retiring  councillor  who  wishes  to  continue  in  his  posi- 
tion, more  than  two-thirds  of  the  body  still  remain  in  office. 

The  number  of  councillors  varies  in  accordance  with  the 
size  of  the  town.  They  are  elected  by  a  system  in  which 
the  town  is  divided  into  wards,  and,  as  a  rule,  each  ward  re- 
turns three,  six,  or  nine  members.  So  that  every  year  one, 
two,  or  three  respectively  may  retire.  The  Council  itself 
selects  in  addition  a  mayor  and  aldermen.  The  aldermen 
are  one-third  the  number  of  the  councillors.  They  can  be 

i  This  does  not  apply  to  the  London  County  Council,  which  is 
not  indeed  a  Town  Council  at  all,  or  to  the  Borough  Councils  of 
London.  In  these,  the  change  is  as  complete  as  as  in  a  Parliamentary 
Election.  So  that  at  any  one  time,  if  the  Electors  so  desire,  the 
whole  Council,  except  for  the  Aldermen,  may  be  swept  away,  and 
a  completely  new  one  substituted  for  it. 


76      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

chosen  from  members  of  the  Council  itself,  or  from  any 
persons  qualified  to  be  councillors.  They  sit  on  the  Council 
unchallenged  for  six  years.  If  a  councillor  is  selected  alder- 
man, he  vacates  his  seat,  and  an  election  is  at  once  held  in 
his  ward  to  elect  a  councillor  in  his  place. 

On  November  9th,  eight  days  after  the  election,  the  Mayor 
is  chosen  by  councillors  and  aldermen  together.  He  may 
be  a  member  of  the  Council,  or  a  distinguished  person  out- 
side. If  a  councillor,  he  does  not  vacate  the  seat.  He  is 
elected  for  one  year  only,  and  he  may  be  re-elected  for  any 
number  of  times  afterwards,  but  in  each  case  for  one  year 
only.  The  aldermen  who  go  out  of  office  on  November  9th 
cannot  vote  for  the  election  of  the  new  aldermen.  But  the 
aldermen  who  remain  in  office  may;  an  arrangement  which 
has  caused  much  criticism  from  would-be  reformers,  espe- 
cially in  London.  For  it  is  evident  that  if  the  reformers 
have  carried  most  of  the  seats  in  an  election  against  an  "old 
gang,"  that  "old  gang"  may  preserve  their  majority  by  using 
the  votes  of  their  old  aldermen  to  help  to  outvote  the  new 
councillors  in  electing  new  aldermen.  There  are  other  re- 
formers who  say  that  the  whole  system  of  aldermen  is  archaic 
and  reactionary,  and  that  every  member  of  the  Council 
should  be  as  much  directly  responsible  to  the  electors  in  the 
town  as  is  every  Member  of  the  House  of  Commons.  There 
are  others  still  more  vigorous  who  wish  to  adopt  the  full 
Parliamentary  system,  and  let  the  whole  Council  be  elected 
every  three  years,  and  consist  entirely  of  elected  members. 

The  present  system,  indeed,  differs  not  only  from  that 
of  Parliament,  but  from  municipal  institutions  in  democratic 
countries  elsewhere.  In  France,  the  Maire,  with  functions 
very  different  from  an  English  Mayor,  is  appointed  by  a 
Government  which  is  responsible  to  the  elected  Chambers 
equivalent  to  our  Parliament.  In  America,  in  a  great  city 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  77 

like  New  York,  the  Mayor  and  the  chief  officials  are  chosen 
by  a  plebiscite  l  in  an  election  which  has  all  the  interest  and 
much  of  the  importance  of  a  State,  Government,  or  Presi- 
dential Election.  In  England,  it  is  apparent  that  the  cau- 
tious ways  of  ancient  cities  reflect,  in  their  elaborate  opposi- 
tion to  sudden  change,  the  fear  of  any  violent  upsetting  of 
accepted  tradition.  The  Town  Council  spends  the  money 
of  the  burgesses.  It  is  compelled  in  such  spending  to  work 
within  the  law.  But  even  within  that  law  it  can  vary  the 
amount  it  spends  almost  indefinitely,  in  accordance  with  the 
efficiency  of  its  work  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  policy  it  adopts 
on  the  other.  I  shall  indeed  show  later  that  owing  to  an  ar- 
rangement for  raising  rates  cheaply,  in  most  of  the  great 
cities  the  majority  of  the  electors  do  not  even  know  that 
they  are  paying  rates  at  all,  and  therefore  vote  somewhat 
recklessly.  But  the  system  itself  is  evidently  an  inheritance 
from  the  time  when  each  burgess  looked  carefully  at  his 
gold  pieces,  and  decided  only  with  reluctance  that  some  of 
these  should  be  appropriated  for  the  preservation  of  his 
property,  or  the  protection  of  his  life. 

And  as  the  constitution  of  the  Council  has  thus  remained, 
so  also  has  remained  the  undying  tradition  embodied  in 
English  literature,  and  the  subject  of  endless  anecdotes  and 
humours.  The  Mayor  is  a  portly  person,  decked  in  gor- 
geous apparel,  with  a  queer  hat  and  a  gold  chain  of  office, 
and  with  stoutish,  dignified  flunkeys  quaintly  dressed,  who 
accompany  him  in  his  goings  out  and  his  comings  in.  The 

1  A  plebiscite  merely  means  a  direct  election  by  the  voters,  of  a 
particular  person  for  a  particular  office.  It  is  the  system  adopted 
in  America,  for  example,  for  the  election  of  its  President;  and  was 
the  method  by  which,  in  France,  the  Empire  claimed  to  rest  on  pop- 
ular authority  owing  to  the  fact  that  at  intervals  it  put  the  question 
to  the  whole  population  whether  they  wished  the  Empire  to  continue 
or  no. 


78      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

aldermen  are  also  stout,  elderly  gentlemen,  clad  in  robes,  of 
benignant  and  somnolent  disposition;  chiefly  conspicuous  at 
City  banquets,  in  which  they  consume  enormous  quantities 
of  oysters  and  turtle  soup.  And  the  councillors  themselves 
are  men  of  middle  age,  with  property  and  a  stake  in  the 
fortunes  of  the  town,  who  have  permanently  identified  their 
fortunes  with  the  town,  and  stand  to  gain  by  .that  town's 
prosperity.  Such  a  vision  is  far,  indeed,  from  the  reality 
of  the  system  as  it  may  work  today  in  some  of  the 
municipalities  in  which  "Labour"  has  gained  control.  Here 
the  Mayor  may  be  a  local  carpenter  or  bricklayer.  The 
aldermen  may  be  young,  quick-witted,  eager  men,  clean- 
shaven, or  with  small  moustaches,  possessing  no  property  at 
all.  The  councillors  may  be  men  who  at  any  moment  will, 
pack  up  and  leave  this  particular  district.  And  all  the 
historical  paraphernalia  of  gold  mace  and  gold  chain  and 
beadles  and  flunkeys  may  be  ruthlessly  swept  aside;  and  the 
very  idea  of  turtle  soup  or  oysters  at  city  banquets  accepted 
as  one  of  the  seven  deadly  municipal  sins.  Yet,  with  this 
outward  dinginess  of  life,  there  may  be  no  less  public  spirit 
and  zeal  for  the  public  good.  And  the  actual  work  laid  on 
it,  and  the  methods  of  its  carrying  out  are  exactly  the  same 
whether  a  borough  maintains  the  ancient  formalities  and 
ceremonies,  or  whether  it  has  acquiesced  in  the  colourless 
standard  of  the  twentieth  century. 

And  in  many  of  the  little  old  towns,  and  some  of  the  big 
ones,  the  old  tradition  survives.  Within  the  Council  the 
Mayor  is  but  the  chairman  of  the  Council's  meetings,  and 
has  not  even  the  authority  of  a  Prime  Minister  in  Parlia- 
ment. He  does  not  settle  policy,  which  is  done  by  the  major- 
ity on  the  Council.  And  he  does  not  carry  out  that  policy, 
which  is  done  by  the  Town  Clerk  and  the  officials  under  him. 
His  function  is  to  preserve  order  at  the  Council  and,  on 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  79 

the  legal  advice  of  the  Town  Clerk,  to  see  that  the  Council 
carries  out  its  own  rules  and  proceedings  on  the  one  hand, 
and  keeps  within  its  legal  limitations  on  the  other.  The 
new  type  of  Mayor,  recognizing  himself  as  being  merely 
the  chairman  of  a  Council,  might  limit  himself  to  this  duty. 
But  it  is  certain  that  at  present  most  of  the  cities  are  not 
prepared  for  so  drastic  a  break  with  the  ancient  ideal.  The 
Mayor  is  Chairman  of  the  Borough  Bench  of  Magistrates 
during  his  year  of  office.  He  is  also  the  first  citizen,  and 
representative  of  the  town  in  all  its  relations  with  the  out- 
side world.  He  welcomes  in  suitable  speeches  distinguished 
visitors  to  the  city ;  or  conferences  of  great  organizations 
— Friendly  Societies  or  Trades  Unions  or  Church  Con- 
gresses, or  British  Associations  for  the  advancement  of 
science,  or  even  gatherings  of  the  organized  political  Parties 
of  the  country.  And  he  welcomes  these  regardless  of  their 
party  or  religion,  and  regardless  of  his  own  party  or  re- 
ligion ;  knowing  that  his  duty  is  to  have  no  official  party  or 
religion  during  his  year  of  office ;  and  that  these  conferences 
bring  honour  and  revenue  to  the  town  in  which  they  are 
held.  And  he  will  therefore  confine  himself  to  such  remarks 
as  that  honest  men  are  to  be  found  in  all  parties,  or  that 
all  truly  religious  men  really  believe  the  same  thing  at  bot- 
tom. Sometimes  he  will  entertain  Royalty  itself,  attract- 
ing the  highest  persons  in  the  land  to  his  town,  to  open  a 
dockyard,  to  visit  the  works  and  industries,  or  to  patronize  a 
hospital.  In  that  case  he  will  have  been  reckoned  as  having 
done  the  town  great  service.  And  he  will  almost  certainly 
receive  a  knighthood  as  a  mark  of  Royalty's  approval. 

And  outside  these  more  conspicuous  opportunities  of 
eloquence  and  distinction,  he  is  called  to  almost  daily  serv- 
ice in  the  various  interests  of  the  community.  He  enters 
into  conferences  with  other  mayors  on  subjects  of  interest 


80      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

to  neighbouring  cities ;  or  he  is  called  by  the  Government  to 
London  to  consider  with  that  Government  such  problems  as 
the  housing  of  the  poor,  or  measures  dealing  with  unemploy- 
ment, affecting  all  towns  alike.  When  a  local  Bill  pro- 
moted by  his  town  is  before  Parliament,  he  often  has  to 
spend  much  time  in  the  Metropolis  negotiating  with  the 
Government  officials,  or  persuading  the  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment that  the  Bill  is  a  good  one  or  a  bad  one,  as  the  case 
may  be. 

Even  in  lesser  duties  he  can  never  call  his  time  his  own. 
He  is  a  kind  of  "good  uncle,"  or  fairy  godmother  to  all  the 
citizens.  He  sits  in  the  Mayor's  Parlour,  his  own  private 
room  in  the  municipal  buildings,  and  people  come  to  him 
with  any  kind  of  request  or  grievance  or  demand  for  advice. 
Every  charity  or  athletic  society  or  school  entertainment 
requests  his  presence  and  his  subscription.  In  some  towns 
the  Mayor  is  allowed  from  the  municipal  revenues  a  certain 
sum  for  municipal  entertainment.  But  in  the  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  cases  the  person  who  has  accepted  the 
office  of  Mayor  in  a  city,  and  carried  out  his  duties  in  con- 
formity with  the  wishes  of  the  high-spirited  citizens,  is  left 
many  thousands  of  pounds  poorer  in  pocket.  But  a  few 
years  ago  the  observant  foreigner,  examining  English 
municipal  life,  could  pass  the  cheerful  or  ironical  verdict 
that  "a  rich  peer  is  an  ideal  Mayor." 

(c)   THE  WORKING  OF  THE  COUNCIL 

The  Town  Council  carries  out  its  work  by  means  of  com- 
mittees. There  is  nothing  mysterious  about  work  through 
committees,  which  is  a  very  common  English  way  of  trans- 
acting business.  In  practice,  it  means  that  the  Council 
divides  up  the  various  things  it  has  to  do  into  a  number  of 
separate  subjects,  and  appoints  a  limited  number  of  its  own 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  81 

members  to  be  a  committee  to  deal  with  each  subject.  These 
ladies  and  gentlemen  meet  at  intervals,  sitting  round  a 
table  in  a  little  committee  room.  They  appoint  a  chairman 
to  preside  over  their  discussion.  They  have  a  clerk  or 
official  to  take  notes  of  their  decisions,  which  they  call 
minutes.  They  receive  reports  from  the  Town  Clerk  or  the 
permanent  staff  of  the  Council  which  is  specially  concerned 
with  the  work  which  they  are  supervising.  They  come  to 
a  decision  by  means  of  discussion;  that  is,  by  freely  talking 
over  any  uncertain  point,  and  each  giving  his  own  views, 
and  trying  to  convert  others  to  these  views  by  argument 
and  appeal.  If  they  cannot  all  agree,  they  will  vote  on  the 
matter  "yes"  or  "no."  And  every  member  has  one  vote 
and  no  more,  except  the  chairman,  who  has  what  is  called 
a  casting  vote;  that  is,  an  extra  deciding  vote  when  the 
votes  are  equal.  The  officials  who  have  to  carry  out  the 
decision  have  no  voice  at  all  in  the  making  of  that  decision, 
and  can  only  give  their  opinion  on  the  subject  if  called  to  do 
so  by  the  committee. 

After  the  committee  has  decided  on  any  point,  its  decisions 
come  before  the  Council  itself  at  the  general  meeting,  with 
the  Mayor  or  Deputy  Mayor  presiding.  And  if,  as  is 
usual,  the  Council  accepts  the  verdict  of  the  committee,  it  is 
not  even  discussed  in  the  meeting  of  the  whole  Council  at  all, 
but  is  formally  approved,  and  becomes  the  legal  decision  of 
the  Council.  Any  member  of  the  Council,  however,  whether 
he  was  on  the  committee  or  no,  if  he  objects  to  any  decision 
of  the  committee,  may  recommend  the  decision  to  be  re- 
jected or  amended,  or  referred  back  for  further  discussion. 
And  if  the  council  agrees,  it  is  done. 

Every  Town  Council  has  to  appoint  certain  "Statutory" 
Committees,  by  which  is  meant  committees  which  Acts  of 
Parliament  have  decided  must  be  appointed  by  the  Town 


82      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Council  to  carry  on  certain  work.  Such,  for  example,  is 
the  Watch  Committee,  which  deals  with  the  police,  which 
by  law  shall  not  exceed  in  numbers  more  than  one-third 
of  the  Council.  Or,  again,  the  Education  Committee,  upon 
which  other  members  are  co-opted,  that  is,  appointed  from 
outside  the  Council.  The  Council  members  are  in  a  maj  ority 
on  this  committee,  but  in  accordance  with  a  scheme  made  by 
the  Board  of  Education,  other  persons  must  be  appointed 
either  by  the  Board  of  Education,  or  by  some  other  body, 
or  by  the  Council  itself. 

But  the  great  majority  of  committees  are  not  "statutory" 
at  all.  They  are  appointed  to  assist  in  carrying  out  some 
particular  work  of  the  Council  as  that  work  arises,  through 
the  adoption  of  some  old  law  or  the  passing  of  some  new  one. 
And,  generally,  there  will  be  many  more  committees  in  a 
large  Council  than  in  a  small  one,  where  much  of  the  work 
may  be  done  by  the  little  Council  itself.  And  there  will  be 
more  committees  in  an  active  and  progressive  Council  keen 
on  municipal  energy  and  municipal  trading,  than  in  a  Coun- 
cil which  is  lethargic  and  indifferent  to  these  matters. 

There  is  no  limit  to  the  number  of  these  committees,  and 
in  many  big  towns  these  committees  themselves  break  up  into 
sub-committees,  each  to  deal  with  separate  parts  of  a  big 
subject.  The  titles  of  the  committees  themselves  give  an 
idea  of  the  work  of  a  Town  Council.  There  will  probably 
be  a  General  Purposes  Committee,  dealing  with  the  proce- 
dure of  the  Council,  and  such  subjects  as  the  selection  of 
persons  from  the  Council  for  the  various  other  committees. 
There  will  be  the  Statutory  Watch  Committee,  and  the  Edu- 
cation Committee;  a  Sanitary  Committee  to  deal  with  the 
public  health,  a  Highway  and  Sewerage  Committee  to  deal 
with  the  roads,  and  the  drains  which  run  beneath  them;  a 
Water  Committee  to  deal  with  the  water  supply ;  a  Gas  and 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  83 

Lighting  Committee  to  deal  with  the  lighting  of  the  town; 
and  if  the  town  owns  its  markets  or  lands  and  property,  or 
libraries  and  museums,  committees  dealing  with  each  of 
these  subjects.  If  the  town  has  established  tramways,  or 
supplies  gas  or  electric  light,  or  possesses  parks  and  public 
playgrounds  or  municipal  cemeteries,  there  will  be  com- 
mittees to  deal  with  these.  Besides  these  committees  of 
their  own  appointment,  dealing  with  their  own  affairs, 
many  towns  also  appoint  representatives  on  joint  com- 
mittees with  other  bodies;  dealing  with  such  subjects  as 
asylums,  or  general  schemes  of  drainage,  or  the  prevention 
of  the  pollution  of  rivers. 

The  Statutory  Watch  Committee  has  control  of  the  police, 
and  it  alone  is  independent,  in  its  decision,  of  the  Council  in 
respect  to  the  duties  of  the  police  control  specifically  laid 
upon  it  by  Parliament.  Some  of  the  other  committees,  such 
as,  for  example,  the  Public  Libraries  Committee,  have  the 
power  under  law  to  co-opt  burgesses  who  are  not  members 
of  the  Council.  A  Parliamentary  Committee  may  watch 
over  the  interests  of  the  town  as  affected  by  general  and 
local  laws  passed  through  Parliament,  and  a  Vigilance  Com- 
mittee may  brood  over  the  morals  of  the  inhabitants  within 
its  borders. 

(d)  THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  COUNCIL 

I.  THE  PROTECTION  OF  LIFE  AND  PROPERTY 

What,  roughly,  does  all  this  mean?  What  does  a  Town 
Council  do?  Its  first  duty,  and  one  inherited  from  im- 
memorial time,  is  to  guard  the  safety  of  its  citizens,  and 
to  protect  their  property  from  marauders  and  malefactors. 
It  does  this  by  its  system  of  police.  The  police  are 
officials,  recruited  and  paid  for  by  the  town,  and  entirely 


84.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

under  the  control  of  the  Watch  Committee  itself.  The 
opinion  widely  held  that  the  police  are  under  control  of  the 
Government,  and  can  be  moved  about  the  country  by  orders 
of  the  Government  in  times  of  emergency,  is  an  entire  de- 
lusion. The  Government  contributes  to  the  cost  of  the 
police  in  every  town,  a  grant-in-aid,  as  it  is  called,  from 
the  central  revenue ;  and  in  theory  at  least  could  cut  off  that 
grant  if  the  Town  Council  refused  in  emergency  to  assist 
with  its  police  in  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order  outside 
its  boundaries.  But  except  for  this  fact,  the  local  authority 
has  absolute  control,  and  can  do  what  it  pleases  with  its 
own  police,  within  the  limits  of  the  law.  The  only  excep- 
tion to  this  general  rule  is  the  Metropolitan  Police  Force, 
which  is  under  the  control  of  the  central  Government  at 
Scotland  Yard,  and  can  be  used  by  the  Government  for  any 
of  its  purposes  in  any  part  of  the  country.1 

The  head  of  the  borough  police,  the  chief  constable  as  he 
is  called,  is  an  officer  appointed  by  the  Council.  But  he  is 
paid  by  the  Watch  Committee,  and  can  be  dismissed  either 
by  the  Council  or  by  the  magistrates.  The  magistrates 
have,  indeed,  a  kind  of  indefinite  authority  over  the  town 
police  as  being  responsible  for  the  keeping  of  the  peace  in 
the  town.  In  doubtful  cases  a  joint  committee  will  probably 
be  appointed  by  the  Watch  Committee  and  the  magistrates ; 
and  this  committee  will  decide  what  policy  will  be  pursued 
from  day  to  day.  Apart  from  this  legal  responsibility,  the 
Watch  Committee  raises,  equips,  clothes,  houses,  and 
arranges  for  the  pay  of  the  police  force.  It  generally  de- 
cides or  has  a  veto  on  police  prosecutions,  and  in  some  towns 
the  use  of  this  veto  has  given  rise  to  the  belief  that  it  has 
been  unduly  tender  to  certain  interests,  such  as  the  liquor 

i  As  I  shall  explain  later,  the  county  police  are  under  a  joint  con- 
trol, different  to  that  of  a  borough. 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  85 

interest.  As  I  have  said,  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
expenses  of  the  local  police  force  is  paid  by  the  State,  on 
the  condition  that  these  shall  be  annually  inspected  by  the 
Home  Office.  And  this  grant  may  be  reduced,  or  altogether 
refused,  if  the  result  of  the  inspection  is  unfavourable.  In 
practice,  however,  the  Central  Government  will  always  en- 
deavour to  avoid  open  warfare  with  a  great  municipality  by 
refusing  the  grant.  It  knows  that  such  a  municipality 
can  make  things  difficult  for  Ministers  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  that  even  municipalities  who  hate  each  other 
will  always  readily  combine  for  mutal  protection  against, 
or  mutual  attack  upon,  what  they  term  "the  bureaucracy  at 
Whitehall.'*  Indeed,  "Whitehall,"  among  the  great  cities, 
has  come  to  have  the  same  character  for  ignorance,  fussiness, 
interference,  and  incompetence  as  "Downing  Street"  has 
among  the  great  Colonies  and  self-governing  Dominions. 
The  latter  represents  the  attempted  control  of  the  Colonial 
Office ;  the  former  that  of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Home 
Office,  and  the  Ministry  of  Health  (late  Local  Government 
Board).  The  charge,  to  those  who  know  the  inner  work 
of  these  great  Departments,  is  of  course  absurd.  But  it 
is  not  unnatural  in  a  system  that  inevitably  leads  to  friction. 
The  heroic  attempt  is  made  to  combine  the  fullest  possible 
freedom  and  local  activity  in  the  cities  with  the  duty  laid 
on  the  Central  Authority  to  compel  them  to  carry  out 
certain  functions  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  a  responsibility  for  interfering  if  these  are 
variable  or  inadequate. 

2.    PREVENTION    OF    DISEASE 

If  the  first  function  of  the  Council  is  thus  to  protect  the 
honest  burgess  from  human  malefactors  injurious  to  his  life 
and  property,  the  second  is  to  protect  him  from  enemies 


86      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

which  are  not  human,  but  which,  if  not  continually  fought, 
prove  a  far  more  dangerous  menace  to  his  welfare  than  any 
thief  or  murderer.  And  all  this  apparatus  of  attack  haa 
grown  up  during  the  last  few  generations,  since  the  time 
when  the  bulk  of  diseases  were  regarded  as  the  "Act  of  God" 
laid  on  humanity  as  a  trial  of  its  patience,  or  a  punishment 
for  its  sins.  In  the  old  days  men  jogged  along  happily 
through  life  in  the  little  walled  towns  of  England,  the 
houses  were  built  round  and  leant  over  the  churchyards. 
The  water  supply  was  drawn  from  wells  into  which  those 
churchyards  drained.  Each  house  was  responsible  for  the 
disposal  of  its  own  refuse  and  sewage.  Each  citizen  pur- 
chased what  food  he  pleased,  in  any  condition  of  putre- 
faction, with  no  one  to  say  to  buyer  or  vendor  "aye"  or 
"no." 

The  great  campaign  against  the  disease  which  was  the 
permanent  accompaniment  of  such  conditions,  associated 
with  the  series  of  Public  Health  Acts,  has  taken  two  forms, 
a  positive  and  negative.  In  the  positive  form  it  requires 
the  provision  of  certain  microbe-fighting  services  in  every 
city,  with  the  Central  Authority  enforcing  a  minimum  stand- 
ard of  such  provisions  upon  all  municipalities.  Every 
municipality  thus  has  to  provide,  available  for  all  citizens 
within  its  area,  and  at  a  reasonable  cost,  showing  equal 
treatment  of  one  house  and  another,  an  adequate  and  pure 
water  supply ;  for  the  expense  of  which  it  levies  a  water  rate 
upon  all  houses  supplied  within  its  boundaries.  It  has  also 
to  supply  a  sewage  system,  or  to  satisfy  the  Central 
Authority  that  whatever  system  or  lack  of  system  exists  is 
not  detrimental  to  the  general  health  of  the  town.  It  has 
also  to  arrange  for  the  clearing  of  refuse  in  regular  collec- 
tion by  municipal  dustmen,  and  for  the  satisfactory  disposal 
of  such  refuse;  for  the  clearing  of  streets  by  municipal 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  87 

scavengers,  so  that  disease  shall  not  be  bred  in  the  public 
highways.  It  has  to  provide  such  accommodation  for 
the  disposal  of  the  dead  in  municipal  or  other  cemeteries 
as  will  ensure  that  these  shall  cease  to  be  a  danger  to  the 
living. 

On  the  other  hand,  its  negative  work  is  the  harrying  and 
prosecution  of  all  those  who,  by  reason  of  neglect  or  misfor- 
tune, are  aiding  the  diseases  which  are  the  common  enemy  of 
mankind.  These,  so  far  as  public  health  is  concerned,  are 
mostly  defined  as  "nuisances,"  and  the  local  authority  under 
the  Public  Health  Act  and  other  Acts  is  given  wide  powers 
to  make  what  are  called  "by-laws"  declaring  certain  things 
or  certain  conditions  "nuisances."  It  prosecutes  people, 
and  subjects  them  to  penalties,  for  maintaining  those  things, 
or  establishing  those  conditions.  Thus,  the  possession  of 
an  insanitary  dustbin  is  a  "nuisance" ;  or  a  house  where  the 
drains  are  wrong;  or  a  house  having  more  people  living  in 
it  than  the  standard  of  over-crowding  laid  down  by  the 
local  authority;  or  a  house  in  such  a  state  of  decay  as  to 
be  unfit  for  human  habitation.  And  even  where  the  offence 
is  not  technically  a  "nuisance"  the  same  principle  is  applied. 
A  man  is  not  prosecuted  for  his  own  good  to  raise  him  to 
sOme  standard  of  decent  life  approved  by  the  town  as  a 
whole.  He  is  not  compelled  to  wash  himself  or  to  dress 
decently  so  long  as  his  nakedness  does  not  offend  the  pro- 
priety of  his  neighbours ;  or  to  keep  his  house  tidy  or  clean ; 
or  to  conform  to  even  a  limited  standard  of  civilized  habits. 
But  if  his  degradation  is  such  that  his  offence  causes  in- 
convenience or  infection  to  his  neighbours,  he  will  be  prose- 
cuted for  being  a  nuisance,  and  will  have  to  reform  his  ways. 
The  Englishman's  house  is  only  his  castle  in  so  far  as  it 
neither  excites  discomfort  nor  breeds  disease  in  the  "castles" 
of  adjacent  Englishmen. 


88 

And  the  same  principle  applies  to  larger  action.  The 
Town  Council  is  responsible  for  the  food  sold  within  its 
borders — that  it  is  of  the  quality  it  professes  to  be;  that 
the  quantity  is  what  it  professes  to  be;  that  it  is  not  adul- 
terated, and  that  it  is  fit  for  human  consumption.  Many 
years  ago  Robert  Lowe,  in  face  of  a  deputation  demanding 
these  rules  who  gave  some  horrifying  examples,  after  ex- 
pressing complete  sympathy  with  the  new  proposed  legisla- 
tion, remarked  that  nevertheless  he  could  not  but  think  that 
the  man  who  turned  diseased  liver  into  raspberry  jam  must, 
in  some  sense,  be  regarded  as  a  benefactor  to  the  human  race. 
The  modern  Town  Council,  however,  passes  no  such  cheer- 
ful verdict  upon  him.  It  inspects  his  goods,  it  destroys 
whatever  it  finds  unsound,  it  may  visit  him  with  a  heavy 
penalty  for  any  praiseworthy  effort  he  may  essay  to  secure 
that  benediction. 

And  in  the  town,  infectious  disease  is  itself  treated  as 
something  of  a  nuisance.  We  have  not  yet,  indeed,  reached 
the  stage  described  by  the  author  of  "Erewhon"  in  which 
persons  guilty  of  sickness  are  subjected  to  severe  punishment. 
But  in  the  case  of  any  illness  in  which  infection  may  be 
directly  or  indirectly  conveyed  to  others,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  Town  Council,  through  the  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  to 
descend  upon  the  victim  and  the  cottage  in  which  he  resides, 
to  spirit  away  the  patient  to  some  isolated  fever  hospital, 
and  to  deal  drastically  in  the  matter  of  cleaning  and  dis- 
infecting; even,  if  necessary,  in  the  expulsion  of  its  inhabi- 
tants from  the  house  where  the  disease  has  occurred.  The 
cost  of  this  somewhat  expensive  process  is  borne  by  the 
Council  itself,  the  community  regarding  it  as  a  kind  of 
insurance  by  which  each  citizen  contributes  to  the  stamp- 
ing out  of  a  disease  which  might  otherwise  enter  his  own 
home. 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  89 

3.   THE  PROVISION   OF  "LUXURIES" 

In  the  third  subject  of  Town  Council  activity  may  be 
included  the  provision  of  those  things  which  belong  to  the 
luxuries  rather  than  the  necessities  of  city  life.  The  pro- 
tection of  life  and  property  is  the  first  requisite  of  the 
continuance  of  a  civilization;  and  so  also,  as  dismal  ex- 
perience has  proved  by  plague  and  fever,  protection  against 
the  microbe  and  the  bacillus  which  flourish  when  men  herd 
together  in  closely  packed  insanitary  cities.  But  this  third 
class,  being  less  doubtfully  necessary  to  all,  has  been  left  to 
the  choice  of  each  town,  and  not  imposed,  upon  it.  And 
many  towns  have  seen  no  reason  to  compel  all  to  pay  for 
benefits  which  indeed  are  open  to  all,  but  which  many,  or 
even  a  majority,  may  not  in  the  least  desire.  To  such  a 
class  belong  the  provisions  of  parks  and  playgrounds,  of 
baths  and  wash-houses,  of  free  libraries,  of  halls  suitable 
for  public  functions  attached  to  the  municipal  buildings,  or 
of  various  forms  of  technical  and  higher  education  outside 
the  minimum  standard  of  education  required  by  the  Central 
Authority. 

Such  "luxuries"  as  these  are  provided  for  two  reasons. 
Some  towns  spend  money  on  these  objects  with  the  hope  of 
direct  financial  reward.  It  is  money  spent  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  monetary  return.  This  applies,  for  example,  to 
watering-places  and  to  the  sea-side  resorts  which  so  plenti- 
fully surround  the  coast  of  England.  Here  the  actual 
industry  of  the  town  is  the  attraction  and  amusement  of 
visitors.  Therefore  the  citizens,  who  are  mainly  hotel 
keepers  or  lodging-house  proprietors,  or  dependent  on  the 
prosperity  of  hotels  and  lodging-houses,  are  very  content 
that  a  levy  should  be  imposed  on  them  all  for  adding  to  the 
attraction  of  the  town,  in  the  hope  that  this  additional  ex- 


90      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

penditure  will  attract  visitors  and  the  money  of  visitors, 
in  competition  for  these  with  other  cities  similar  to  their 
own.  And,  therefore,  in  such  communities,  large  sums  are 
spent  by  the  Councils  in  the  making  and  upkeep  of 
promenades,  in  shrubs  and  trees  and  flowers,  in  municipal 
parks  and  municipal  piers,  and  even  in  halls  for  music  and 
entertainment,  and  the  employment  of  a  municipal  band. 
This  is  "business,"  not  pleasure,  accepted  as  a  necessity 
rather  than  a  recreation. 

The  same  applies  to  the  Councils  which  represent  towns 
or  districts  endeavouring  to  attract  a  high-class  population, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  some  great  centre  of  rich  and  poor 
alike.  In  these  districts,  for  example,  by  the  reserving  of 
a  considerable  proportion  of  the  land  which  can  be  used  for 
games  for  the  children  and  enjoyment  for  the  old,  persons 
of  substantial  income  can  be  attracted  to  this  neighbour- 
hood rather  than  to  any  other  in  which  no  such  provision 
is  made.  And  here  also  foresight  and  cleverness  receives 
its  reward,  and  wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children. 

Controversy  is  only  keen  and  bitter  in  connexion  with 
these  "luxuries"  when  efforts  are  made  to  impose  them,  not 
as  a  means  of  obtaining  a  future  interest  on  the  capital 
spent,  but  merely  with  the  idea  of  making  all  pay  in  order 
to  place  within  the  reach  of  all  such  enjoyments  as  most  of 
them  could  not  otherwise  obtain.  In  many  cases  there  are 
elaborate  safeguards  in  the  Acts  themselves  both  as  to  means 
of  ascertaining  the  communal  desire  by  a  town's  meeting, 
or  by  voting  for  these  amenities,  or  by  very  strictly  limiting 
the  amount  which  can  be  spent  upon  them.  But  in  practice 
the  first  of  these,  at  least,  counts  for  but  little.  For  a 
town's  meeting  may  be  "packed,"  or  be  but  sparsely  attended, 
and  the  majority  of  electors  may  have  no  knowledge  that 
they  pay  any  rates  at  all.  And  in  any  case  in  most  of 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  91 

the  industrial  cities,  as  the  poor  enormously  outnumber 
the  rich,  and  these  things  provide  benefits  which  the  poor 
enjoy  and  for  which  the  rich  pay,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
many  will  always  outvote  the  few  on  these  matters.  It  is 
easy  to  appreciate  the  argument  of  both.  "I  have  a  garden 
which  I  pay  for,"  says  the  one,  "and  I  never  wish  to  walk 
in  a  park.  I  have  a  collection  of  books,  and  I  should  never 
use  the  greasy,  much-thumbed,  insanitary  volumes  of  a 
municipal  library.  I  have  saved  enough  to  pay  for  a  bath- 
room for  my  house,  and  with  that  I  am  very  content.  Why 
should  I  be  mulcted  against  my  will  of  a  substantial  pro- 
portion of  my  income  in  order  to  provide  bathrooms  and 
libraries  and  playgrounds  for  my  neighbours,  who  have 
preferred  to  spend  in  drink  or  extravagance  the  money 
which  I  have  saved  thus  to  provide  simple  comfort  for  myself 
and  my  children?"  And  the  answer  of  the  other  side  is 
something  as  follows : —  "  You  can  provide  yards  where  all 
of  us  combined  can  furnish  acres  of  garden  and  playing- 
ground.  And  the  combined  acres  are  of  far  more  advan- 
tage in  general  pleasure  than  the  system  of  each  hibernating 
in  his  little  back  yard.  You,  at  best,  can  collect  your  little 
library  of  five  or  seven  hundred  volumes.  By  combining 
together  we  can  create  a  city  library  of  fifty  or  seventy 
thousand  containing  many  expensive  books  which  you  can 
never  afford  to  purchase,  upon  which  each  can  draw  freely 
as  he  needs.  You  can  provide  your  little  limited  bathroom 
in  which  you  can  get  clean  and  splash  about  under  such 
conditions  as  you  please.  But  by  all  combining  together 
we  can  offer  you  accommodation  in  a  kind  of  joining  to- 
gether of  private  baths,  in  which  the  result  of  uniting  hun- 
dreds of  such  private  baths  is  different,  not  only  in  degree 
but  in  kind,  from  the  use  of  each  bath  separately;  in  which 
the  whole  adult  and  child  population  can  obtain  cleanliness, 


92      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

and  learn  to  swim,  and  enjoy  all  the  accessories  of  such 
pleasant  and  desirable  ingredients  of  town  life  in  the  midst 
of  a  grimy,  and,  perhaps,  squalid  city,  which  they  could 
never  obtain  if  restricted  to  what  development  was  possible 
in  each  little  limited  home." 

In  all  these  civic  "luxury"  expenses,  little  controversy 
and  certainly  no  bitter  controversy  would  arise  if  the  old 
Greek  ideal  of  civic  development  could  still  be  maintained 
among  the  sprawling  town  populations  of  twentieth  century 
England.  In  a  community  limited  in  numbers,  which 
could  comfortably  meet  together  in  one  hall  for  discussion 
of  civic  improvements,  homogeneous  both  in  size  of  house 
and  character  of  inmates,  so  that  in  the  case  of  any  pro- 
jected improvements  each  would  pay  the  same  communal 
contribution,  and  each  would  receive  the  same  communal 
advantage,  there  would  be  little  heat  or  anger  concerning 
almost  unlimited  development  of  such  communal  enterprise. 
Under  such  conditions  you  might  even  conceive  of  free  com- 
munal kitchens,  free  communal  tramways,  free  communal 
arrangements  for  maintenance  as  well  as  for  education  of 
children,  which,  after  all,  are  merely  a  logical  development 
of  free  communal  roads  and  free  communal  children's  teach- 
ing, and  free  communal  parks  and  swimming  baths  and 
libraries.  Those  who,  in  such  a  community,  desired  to  stand 
out  of  such  a  common  enterprise,  might  be  politely  or 
roughly  invited  to  go  elsewhere  to  some  region  where  the 
inhabitants  were  unable  to  appreciate  the  advantage  to  all 
by  thus  pooling  the  resources  of  each. 

The  whole  difficulty  arises,  however,  through  the  absence 
of  such  small  homogeneous  communities.  Cities  are  large 
and  ignorant  aggregations  of  the  rich,  of  persons  of 
moderate  incomes,  and  of  the  poor.  The  communal  activ- 
ities which  suit  one  have  no  attraction  for  the  other.  Many 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  93 

of  the  wealthier  owners  of  property,  and  therefore  forced 
contributors  to  these  special  rates,  live  away  from  the  city 
itself;  and  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  money  spent  on 
parks  or  baths  or  libraries  might  as  well  be  spent  in  the 
Antipodes.  And,  therefore,  the  subject  of  this  amenity 
expenditure  is  one  of  continual  friction.  The  pressure  of 
the  friends  of  the  poor  in  Parliament  to  give  these  poor 
something  free  in  the  apparatus  of  enjoyment,  or  improve- 
ment in  body  or  mind,  results  in  the  passing  of  a  series  of 
these  Adoptive  Acts.  The  agitation  of  the  friends  of  the 
poor  in  municipal  elections  results  in  the  Councils  elected 
being  continually  pledged  to  the  enforcement  of  these  Adop- 
tive Acts,  in  which  the  majority  believe  they  are  getting 
something  for  nothing.  The  result  is  regarded  with  in- 
creasing wrath  and  disgust  by  the  owners  or  occupiers  of 
house  property,  who  have  no  particular  desire  for  these 
enjoyments  and  improvements,  and  who  see  themselves  year 
by  year  mulcted  of  increasing  sums  which  they  believe  they 
could  better  spend  on  enjoyments  and  improvements  for 
themselves  and  their  families. 

Nevertheless,  these  communal  enterprises  continue,  in- 
spired not  only  by  the  desire  of  each  individual  citizen  to 
obtain  a  personal  advantage,  but  by  sometlu'ng  of  general 
civic  pride.  Such  pride  has  survived  through  all  the  cen- 
turies, from  the  days  when  each  city  endeavoured  to  attract 
the  best  artists,  the  most  learned  scholars,  and  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  renown,  within  its  borders.  It  is  a 
long  tradition,  extending  beyond  the  Middle  Ages,  to  the 
time  when  the  Greek  historian  could  boast  of  Athens  that  it 
concealed  no  secrets  and  raised  no  barriers  against  the 
visitors  from  all  the  world;  and  the  Hebrew  psalmist  could 
declare  of  his  little  mountain  village,  that  Mount  Zion  was 
"the  joy  of  the  whole  earth." 


94.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

4.  MUNICIPAL  TRADING 

The  fourth  class  of  municipal  activity  is  that  varied 
collection  of  enterprises  generally  classed  under  the  title 
of  municipal  trading.  In  the  luxury  provisions  which  I 
have  just  described,  no  attempt  is  made  to  get  a  profit,  or 
even  to  make  the  thing  pay. 

The  libraries  are  free  to  all  citizens  and  their  wives  and 
children.  There  is  no  charge  for  admission  to  the  public 
parks  or  promenades.  And  even  if  some  small  and  nominal 
fee  is  exacted  for  the  use  of  baths  and  wash-houses,  it  is  never 
suggested  that  out  of  these  fees  they  will  become  self- 
supporting  institutions.  But  municipal  trading  has  been 
developed  very  largely  in  the  hope  of  making  a  profit  in  a 
business  transaction,  and  using  that  profit  to  lighten  the 
burden  of  the  rates.  Every  town,  owing  to  the  mere  fact 
of  its  development  as  a  town,  possesses  valuable  monopolies 
which  it  can  either  give  to  private  persons,  or  sell  or  lease 
to  private  persons,  or  develop  itself,  in  the  hope  of  obtain- 
ing the  profit  which  would  otherwise  go  to  private  persons. 
These  monopolies  are  called  in  America  "franchises."  As, 
in  the  growing  American  cities,  they  were  of  enormous  value, 
they  became  an  extraordinarily  fruitful  source  of  corrup- 
tion. For  the  granting  of  a  franchise  to  one  particular 
company  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  companies,  meant  im- 
mediately the  putting  of  perhaps  thousands  of  pounds  into 
the  pockets  of  such  a  favoured  body,  and  therefore  each 
company  competing  for  this  grant  was  prepared  to  spend 
tens  of  thousands  of  pounds,  either  in  bribes  to  the  in- 
dividual councillors,  or  in  contribution  to  the  funds  of  the 
party  in  power  in  the  Council,  in  order  to  obtain  the  "fran- 
chise" which  would  repay  it  tenfold  for  such  expenditure. 

A  typical  example  of  such  a  "franchise"  or  monopoly  is 


i 

EH 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  95 

the  tramway  system  of  a  town,  far  more  valuable  before 
the  motor  bus  started  a  successful  competition  against  it. 
But  in  the  older  days,  practically  every  one  had  to  travel 
within  the  city  by  trams,  or  not  at  all.  And  as  it  was 
impossible  to  have  more  than  one  double  track  of  tramway 
down  the  main  streets  of  the  town,  it  was  impossible  to 
have  competition  in  a  tramway  system.  And  therefore  the 
town  had  either  to  make  and  maintain  its  own  tramway 
system,  or  to  give  or  sell  the  right  of  tearing  up  its  streets, 
and  controlling  its  locomotion,  to  one  particular  company 
operating  for  private  gain.  The  majority  of  the  more  en- 
terprising of  the  British  cities  chose  the  first  of  these  alter- 
natives, and  in  most  of  the  great  towns  of  England  the 
Council  is  responsible  to  the  citizens  for  the  general  man- 
agement and  efficient  working  of  the  tramways  which  occupy 
its  streets.  In  all  such  enterprises  there  is  a  continual 
contest  between  three  parties.  On  the  one  hand  there  are 
those  who  wish  that  such  an  enterprise  should  be  worked  ex- 
actly as  if  it  were  a  private  body  seeking  gain,  and  who  are 
only  desirous,  therefore,  that  systems  should  show  large  net 
profits  which  will  go  to  the  relief  of  the  rates,  and  reveal  the 
business-like  success  of  the  Council.  There  is  a  second 
party  who  is  content  that  so  long  as  the  thing  is  self-sup- 
porting, and  no  loss  is  incurred,  all  the  possible  profit  should 
go  to  cheapening  and  improving  the  service,  and  to  the 
welfare  of  the  municipal  employees.  They  would  provide 
locomotion,  as  they  provide  recreation,  at  the  lowest  pos- 
sible cost.  And  there  is  a  third  party  which  believes  in 
individual  enterprise,  and  regards  with  the  utmost  disgust 
all  attempts  at  municipal  trading.  It  is  continually  try- 
ing to  prove  that  such  communal  activity  must  be  a  failure, 
and  in  every  way  striving  to  damp  it  down,  and  prevent  its 
extension.  It  is  fearful  that  communal  enterprise  will  be 


96  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

extended  into  all  forms  of  human  activity,  thus  shutting 
out  the  opportunity  of  private  effect. 

Municipal  enterprise  is  continually  endeavouring  to  break 
down  the  barriers  created  against  its  advance.  By  Private 
Bills  or  Provisional  Orders  or  the  passage  of  Acts  giving 
fresh  powers  to  all  the  cities  it  strives  to  embark  upon  new 
activities.  Those  who  dislike  these  activities,  and  who  think 
that  all  Town  Councils  must  be  inert,  or  corrupt,  or  prob- 
ably both,  are  troubled  by  the  spectre  of  enormous  municipal 
debt  borrowed  to  start  such  enterprises,  or  believe  that 
these  are  really  run  at  the  expense  of  the  ratepayers,  or  are 
interested  in  the  alternative  proposals  of  private  companies, 
are  continually  opposing  these  efforts,  and  crying  out  that 
this  is  little  better  than  socialism,  and  must  inevitably  lead 
to  ruin. 

The  controversy  is  unceasing  from  decade  to  decade.  Ab- 
stract principle  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  is  supplemented 
by  a  perennial  battle  of  statistics,  and  the  flinging  of  figures 
of  profit  and  loss  which  each  interprets  as  he  pleases.  It 
is  certainly  not  my  purpose  in  this  book,  which  is  descriptive 
and  not  controversial,  to  attempt  to  justify  one  side  or  the 
other.  Those  who  delight  in  argument  will  find  a  bulky 
literature  for  their  examination.  But  so  far  as  the  facts 
are  concerned  it  may  be  roughly  laid  down  that  there  has 
been  a  general  tendency  to  give  the  cities  'the  right  to  work 
their  own  monopolies,  and  a  great  reluctance  to  permit 
them  to  embark  on  trading  which  has  no  monopoly  character. 
Thus,  practically  every  city  has  been  allowed  to  establish 
its  own  tramway  service  if  it  desires  it,  because,  as  I  have 
said,  no  more  than  one  system  is  possible  down  the  main 
streets  of  the  town.  But  few,  if  any,  cities  have  been  allowed 
to  embark  upon  a  motor  bus  or  char-a-banc  service,  be- 
cause in  theory  a  hundred  different  competitors  may  run 


HOW  THE  CITY  IS  GOVERNED  97 

motor  buses  or  char-a-bancs  through  the  main  streets  of  the 
town.  And  this  prohibition  remains  despite  the  fact  that 
these  companies  help  to  tear  to  pieces  these  main  streets, 
which  have  to  be  repaired  mainly  at  the  expense  of  the  rate- 
payers, and  to  whose  repair  the  companies  contribute  nothing 
at  all.  In  the  same  way  the  towns  are  permitted  to  run 
gas  companies  and  electric  lighting  companies,  because  as 
the  pipes  and  communications  of  such  supplies  have  to  pass 
under  the  public  street,  it  is  quite  obvious  that  competition  in 
which,  say,  five  or  six  private  firms  endeavoured  to  run  their 
lines  down  one  tiny  road  would  be  quite  intolerable.  But 
such  municipal  supply  is  not  without  its  dangers,  especially 
in  face  of  new  invention,  as  was  shown  when  electric  light 
was  developing,  while  the  towns  had  sunk  large  sums  of 
money  in  providing  gas ;  the  result  being  that,  for  over  a 
decade  the  majority  of  them  refused  to  allow  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  new  competitor  to  their  carefully  established 
"vested  interest." 

And  some  of  the  towns  run  markets  because  markets, 
when  once  established,  are  also  something  of  a  monopoly. 
And  they  provide  cheap  electric  power  for  manufacturers 
because,  without  this  power,  the  manufacturers  will  not 
settle  in  the  town  where  such  power  is  unobtainable,  but  go 
elsewhere.  And  they  will  run  business  enterprises  which 
are,  as  it  were,  auxiliary  to  the  main  city  monopolies  as, 
for  example,  sewage  farms,  which  they  will  endeavour  to 
cultivate  like  the  ordinary  private  farmer,  and  to  make  a 
profit.  Or  works  for  the  disposal  of  the  by-products  left 
from  the  coal  after  the  gas  has  been  extracted  for  the  light- 
ing and  heating  of  the  town.  As  scientific  invention 
develops,  so  possibility  of  communal  as  distinct  from  in- 
dividual activity  increases.  One  can  conceive  of  towns  run- 
ning aeroplane  services,  or  at  least  providing  municipal 


98      HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

aerodromes  for  all  to  use  who  please,  like  the  roads,  or 
charging  a  fee  like  the  tramways.  Or  providing  communal 
kitchens  and  communal  creches,  and  even  medical  attend- 
ance free  to  all  on  the  ground  that  the  maintenance  of  the 
health  of  each  is  in  the  interest  of  all. 

Continental  countries  are  familiar,  for  example,  with  the 
municipal  theatre,  the  municipal  music-hall,  the  municipal 
concert  room,  and  the  municipal  beer  garden;  and  there  is 
no  intrinsic  reason  why  you  should  not  see  in  the  future  the 
municipal  cinema  showing  edifying  films,  or  the  municipal 
public-house  providing  teetotal  or  weakly  alcoholic  refresh- 
ment. Whether  a  state  religion  may  some  day  become  so 
"undenominational"  as  to  unite  all  varying  sects  in  one 
municipal  meeting-house  may  be  a  subject  of  conjecture. 
But  it  would  at  least  appear  to  be  a  not  illogical  develop- 
ment of  the  "undenominational"  religion  which  is  taught  at 
the  public  municipal  schools. 

In  all  such  development  the  boundaries  are  only  set  by 
the  fear  of  the  ratepayers  of  debt  or  deficit  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  refusal  on  the  other  of  those  who  have  interest  in 
alternative  schemes  to  be  stamped  out  by  the  "iron  heel"  of 
municipal  trade. 


CHAPTER     VI 
LITTLE     LAWS     AND     LOCAL     LAWS 

A  Town  Council  can  make  no  law.  That  is  a  fundamental 
principle  of  British  local  government.  But  it  can  in  two 
ways  obtain  special  laws  which  it  considers  suitable  to  its 
own  local  conditions.  It  can,  and  often  does,  promote  a 
Private  Bill  in  Parliament.  And  if  it  can  pass  that  Bill 
through  Parliament  it  obtains  exactly  the  same  authority  to 
do  the  thing  provided  for  in  the  Bill,  as  if  the  Bill  was  an 
ordinary  Act  of  Parliament  applicable  to  all  towns.  And 
secondly,  it  can  pass  by-laws,  or  little  laws,  as  they  are 
sometimes  called,  which  form  a  sort  of  series  of  legislation 
within  legislation,  the  filling  up  of  a  skeleton  outline  by 
more  complete  definitions  and  powers.  These  by-laws  may 
be  established  under  the  general  common  right  of  the  town 
to  carry  on  the  good  government  of  the  town,  and  were  so 
established  for  many  generations  before  they  were  author- 
ized by  statute.  They  could,  however,  be  challenged,  either 
as  controverting  some  Act  of  Parliament  or  as  against  some 
common  law  right  of  British  citizens.  A  by-law,  for  ex- 
ample, enacting  that  no  red-headed  men  should  walk  in  the 
streets  between  dawn  and  sunset,  though  not  a  violation  of 
any  Act  of  Parliament  (for  Acts  of  Parliament  have  not 
legislated  specially  for  red-headed  men)  would,  undoubtedly, 
if  challenged  by  the  red-headed  before  a  court  of  law,  be 
declared  not  enforceable,  as  repugnant  to  the  common  law 

of  England. 

99 


100  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

This  ancient  and  customary  right  of  making  regulations 
enforceable  by  penalty  for  the  welfare  of  the  town,  has 
now  been  transferred  to  statute  law  by  a  section  of  the 
Municipal  Corporations  Act  of  1882.  "The  Council,"  de- 
clares Section  23  of  this  Act,  "may  from  time  to  time  make 
such  by-laws  as  to  them  seem  meet  for  the  good  rule  and 
government  of  the  borough,  and  for  prevention  and  sup- 
pression of  nuisances  not  already  punishable  in  a  summary 
manner  by  virtue  of  any  Acts  in  force  through  the  borough, 
and  may  thereby  appoint  such  fine  not  exceeding  in  any 
case  £5  as  they  deem  necessary  for  prevention  and  suppres- 
sion of  offences  against  the  same." 

We  have  thus  two  kinds  of  by-laws  against  nuisances.  The 
first  are  made  under  definite  Acts  of  Parliament  authorizing 
by-laws,  such  as  those  under  the  Public  Health  Act,  which 
defines  as  nuisances  things  like  insanitary  drains  and  dust- 
bins. All  such  by-laws  will  not  come  into  operation  until 
they  have  been  submitted  to,  and  confirmed  by,  the  Ministry 
of  Health.  But  by-laws  made  for  the  good  rule  and  govern- 
ment of  the  borough  are  not  so  controlled  by  the  Ministry 
of  Health,  but  come  into  force  after  forty  days  of  their 
making,  unless  disallowed  by  the  Home  Secretary  represent- 
ing the  King  in  Council  of  the  Realm.  'Such  by-laws  are 
often  so  disallowed  mainly  on  the  grounds  of  a  lack  of  uni- 
formity in  one  common  and  similar  urban  area.  For  ex- 
ample, I  remember  we  disallowed  at  the  Home  Office  by-laws 
promoted  by  certain  London  boroughs  making  roller-skat- 
ing an  offence  or  nuisance  on  the  footpaths ;  and  this,  not 
so  much  because  boys  going  to  school  roller-skating  might 
not  be  a  nuisance  to  the  general  body  of  citizens,  as  be- 
cause the  boundaries  of  the  London  boroughs  run  down  the 
middle  of  the  streets,  and  this  was  a  prohibition  which 
should  apply  to  all  or  none.  For  it  seemed  monstrous  that 


LITTLE  LAWS  AND  LOCAL  LAWS  101 

boys  who  skated  down  one  side  of  a  street  should  be  un- 
assailable, while  if  they  quite  innocently  skated  up  the  other 
side,  they  should  be  subject  to  a  penalty  of  £5. 

Even  if  a  by-law  has  been  approved  by  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board  or  allowed  by  the  Home  Office,  and  violates  no 
definite  Act  of  Parliament,  it  still  can  be  challenged,  by  any 
citizen  who  is  aggrieved  by  it,  as  unreasonable.  And  if  the 
Courts  of  Justice  hold  it  to  be  unreasonable,  it  is  no  defence 
to  say  that  it  has  been  approved  by  the  Central  Authority. 
The  question  whether  it  is  reasonable  or  not  will  be  decided, 
not  by  an  appeal  from  the  Lower  Court  to  the  Central 
Government  and  then  to  Parliament,  but  by  an  appeal  from) 
the  Lower  Court  to  the  Court  of  Appeal,  and  then  to  the 
House  of  Lords  as  the  highest  judicial  court  in  the  realm — 
not  to  the  House  of  Lords  as  part  of  the  Parliament  which 
makes  laws.  Thus,  for  example,  when  a  borough  passed 
a  by-law  forbidding  any  one  but  authorized  military  bands 
"to  sound  or  play  upon  any  musical  instrument  in  any  of 
the  streets  of  the  borough  on  Sunday"  (aimed  probably  at 
the  suppression  of  the  Salvation  Army  in  its  earlier  days) 
the  Court  of  Appeal  declared  that  it  was  unreasonable,  and 
therefore  could  not  be  maintained.  The  Court  agreed 
cordially  that  the  playing  of  such  instruments  on  a  Sunday 
might  be  a  "nuisance"  to  the  local  inhabitants,  and  that  in 
any  particular  case,  therefore,  it  could  prosecute  these  un- 
desirable musicians  if  they  were  "nuisances."  But  they  re- 
fused to  allow  the  local  Council  to  define  the  provision  of 
wandering  music  in  any  street  of  the  borough  on  a  Sunday 
as  in  itself  a  "nuisance" ;  and  therefore  to  be  suppressed  and 
punished  quite  part  from  the  question  of  fact,  whether,  at 
the  particular  place  and  time  when  it  was  playing,  it  was  not 
providing  joy  rather  than  sorrow  to  every  individual  within 
earshot  of  its  efforts. 


102  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

The  tendency  of  Councils  all  through  is  in  this  matter  to 
prohibit,  in  rough  and  ready  fashion,  things  which  they  dis- 
like, or  which  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  dislike,  or 
which  they  think  all  decent  citizens  ought  to  dislike.  And 
the  tendency  of  the  Court  of  Law,  in  that  fundamental  re- 
spect for  the  liberty  of  the  subject  which,  in  spite  of  de- 
ficiences  and  limitations,  runs  like  a  golden  thread  through 
the  complicated  history  of  British  justice,  has  been  to  pre- 
serve the  liberty  of  the  individual,  and,  to  refuse  to  impose 
any  restraints  upon  it,  unless  these  restraints  are  definitely 
embodied  in  a  legal  statute.  Many  passionate  critics  openly 
deride  the  assumption  of  law  being  associated  with  justice, 
and  declare  that  the  old  Magna  Charta  assertion  that  jus- 
tice should  not  be  bought  or  sold,  is  in  practice  overridden 
by  the  manipulation  of  the  law  courts,  by  the  enormous  ad- 
vantage given  in  them  to  persons  of  wealth  and  position, 
and  by  the  fact,  as  Father  Dolling  complained  of  East 
London,  that  the  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  poor  are  al- 
ways left  in  the  hands  of  those  whose  direct  interest  it  is 
not  to  put  them  in  force.  There  is  truth  in  these  criti- 
cisms, but  not  the  whole  truth.  Time  and  again  the  Judges 
have  defied  both  the  wishes  of  the  Central  Government,  the 
efforts  of  municipalities,  and  the  storm  of  popular  disap- 
proval, by  protecting  persons,  often  poor  and  always  un- 
popular, against  all  these  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  those 
persons  had  done  no  legal  wrong.  You  can  see  this  operat- 
ing at  one  end  of  the  scale,  when  the  Judges  grant  a  Writ 
of  Habeas  Corpus  in  favour  of  some  person  whom  the 
Government  wish  to  destroy,  who  is  denounced  as  a  moral 
leper  or  traitor  by  the  newspapers,  and  would  be  torn  to 
pieces  by  the  crowd;  or  when,  as  recently,  the  whole  of  the 
Government  regulations  about  import  trade,  in  spite  of 
the  fiery  protests  of  the  Law  Officers  of  the  Crown,  and  the 


LITTLE  LAWS  AND  LOCAL  LAWS  103 

obvious  fact  that  they  were  designed  for  the  safety  of  the 
country  at  war,  were  suddenly  swept  away  by  a  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  And  you  can  see  it,  at  the  other  end, 
in  the  protection  of  the  humblest  citizen  in  his  business 
or  pleasure  against  what  a  great  writer  has  called  "the  never 
ending  audacity  of  elected  persons/'  by  the  determination 
of  the  Courts,  in  an  appeal  to  common  law  apart  from 
any  protective  statute,  that  the  regulations  fettering  his 
freedom  must  be  "reasonable."  In  the  words  of  a  great 
judge:  "By-laws,"  said  Lord  Russell,  "must  not  be  un- 
reasonable. If,  for  instance,  they  were  found  to  be  partial 
or  unequal  in  their  operation  as  between  different  classes, 
if  they  were  manifestly  unjust,  if  they  disclosed  bad  faith, 
the  Court  might  well  say,  Parliament  has  never  intended  to 
give  authority  to  make  such  rules.  They  are  unreasonable 
and  ultra  vires." 

I  have  laboured  this  point  at  some  length  because  of  its 
illustration  of  the  fact  which  I  have  again  and  again  had 
to  return  to,  in  description  of  how  England  is  governed. 
It  is  a  fact  which  is  vital  to  the  right  understanding  of 
the  whole  system,  both  of  penalties  to  which  all  men,  women, 
and  children  in  the  country  may  be  subjected,  or  protections 
to  which  they  may  appeal.  But  it  is  a  fact  less  generally 
understood  than  any  other  such  fundamental  principle.  It 
is  embodied  in  technical  phrase  in  the  statement  that,  al- 
though the  Executive  is  responsible  to  the  Legislature,  and 
although  the  members  of  the  Judiciary  are  appointed  by 
the  head  or  a  member  of  the  Executive,  the  Judiciary  itself 
is  quite  independent  of,  and  acts  often  in  opposition  to,  the 
desire  of  that  Executive,  and  only  carries  out  the  desire 
of  the  Legislature  when  that  desire,  through  the  passage 
of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  has  been  embodied  in  law.  By 
which  is  meant,  in  simpler  language,  that  if  the  Govern- 


104  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

ment  does  not  like  what  you  are  doing,  or  your  neighbours 
wish  to  suppress  any  of  your  activities,  pleasant  or  unpleas- 
ant, they  can,  in  general,  only  carry  out  such  suppression 
by  proving  that  you  have  actually  violated  some  definite 
piece  of  law  which  has  made  what  you  are  doing  illegal. 

Governments  are  always  wishing  to  silence  opponents, 
just  as  crowds  are  always  intolerant  of  minorities.  And 
in  attempting  work  of  this  kind  they  sometimes  dig  up 
statutes  of  Edward  III  or  Henry  VII,  which  no  one  has 
heard  of,  perhaps,  for  a  hundred  years,  and  prosecute  on 
the  allegation  that  an  offence  has  been  committed  against 
these  statutes.  And  if  they  can  prove  their  case,  they  may 
be  able  to  carry  out  their  wishes.  But  they  are  compelled 
to  submit  the  same  evidence,  and  to  convince  as  conclusively, 
as  in  the  case  of  any  casual  tramp  who  is  trying  to  claim 
half-a-crown  from  another;  and  unless  they  do  this  their 
case  is  dismissed  as  contemptuously  as  is  that  of  the  casual 
tramp. 

The  Government  may  appeal  from  Court  to  Court,  but 
it  is  always  to  some  body  of  Judges.  If  it  is  settled  against 
them  by  the  highest  court  in  the  land  they  are  impotent. 
They  can  do  nothing  against  the  decision  of  Judges  whom 
they  can  neither  coerce  nor  remove.  The  law  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  humblest  and  most  unpopular  citizen  against 
the  desire  of  a  Prime  Minister  and  all  his  colleagues,  is  as 
unbreakable  as  once  it  was  defiantly  maintained  against  an 
absolute  monarch.  And  if,  after  its  assertion,  these  at- 
tempted by  direct  action  to  break  the  decision,  they  them- 
selves could  be  haled  before  the  Court  like  the  meanest 
criminal,  and  clapped  into  jail  for  an  attempted  outrage 
against  the  law. 

And  so  we  can  come  down  from  these  high  challenges 
of  constitutional  rights  and  usages  to  the  application  of 


LITTLE  LAWS  AND  LOCAL  LAWS  105 

its  effect  in  the  daily  life  of  every  borough  and  little  city 
and  country-side.  The  Town  Council  is  responsible  for  the 
good  administration  of  the  borough  inside  the  law,  and  not 
outside  it.  It  has  certain  functions  to  perform  in  the  carry- 
ing out  of  definite  laws  for  the  benefit  of  the  citizens.  It 
has  a  wide  power  of  making  little  laws  of  the  most  varied 
kind  for  the  benefit  of  the  citizens.  Regulations  of  building, 
dealing  with  the  size  of  streets,  the  nature  of  houses  which 
are  allowed  to  be  built,  the  maintenance  and  cleansing  of 
streets,  the  supervision  of  houses  and  vehicles,  the  regula- 
tion of  weights  and  measures,  the  regulation  of  trades  with 
the  forbidding  of  offensive  ones,  the  conduct  of  lodging- 
houses,  markets,  slaughter-houses,  theatres,  and  places  of 
amusement — in  these,  and  in  numerous  other  cases,  it  may 
embody  the  wishes  of  the  bulk  of  the  citizens  in  laying  down 
regulations  and  prohibitions  which  can  be  enforced  by  legal 
punishment.  But  these  regulations  have  to  be  reasonable; 
general  and  not  particular  in  their  treatment;  defended  as 
necessary  or  useful  to  good  order,  and  not  merely  means 
of  penalizing  individuals  and  unpopular  minorities.  One 
citizen  alone  can  appeal  to  the  Court  against  such  pro- 
vision made  by  a  borough  representing  a  million  persons, 
and  if  he  can  prove  his  contention,  the  Court  of  Justice  will 
vindicate  his  claim. 

But  although  the  work  of  the  Councils  is  thus  confined 
to  administering  laws,  and  can  only  make  its  by-laws  or 
little  laws  within  the  limits  laid  down  by  these  laws,  it  has 
practically  unlimited  power  of  endeavouring  to  pass  Acts 
of  Parliament  to  effect  changes  which  are  desired  by  the 
majority  of  the  Council,  and  which  are  supposed  to  be 
agreeable  to  the  inhabitants.  All  these  changes  have  to 
be  embodied  in  Bills  submitted  to  the  Central  Authority  at 
Westminister,  and  passed  through  all  such  stages  (though 


106  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

with  different  procedure)  as  great  measures,  designed  to 
alter  the  whole  conditions  of  society,  pass  through.  1  Thus, 
at  one  time,  the  Houses  of  Parliament  may  be  engaged 
in  discussion  of  the  giving  of  a  new  constitution  to  a  part 
of  the  Empire,  or  the  imposing  of  a  tax  which  affects  the 
pockets  of  all;  at  another,  a  proposal  that  some  small  and 
almost  unknown  country  town  shall  be  given  power  to  pro- 
vide a  refrigerator,  or  to  regulate  trade  in  ice  cream. 
Various  schemes  have  been  propounded  to  relieve  what 
is  sometimes  called  the  "Imperial  Parliament"  from  the 
detailed  work  of  examination  of  these  local  matters ;  such  as, 
for  example,  the  formation  of  a  number  of  subordinate 
assemblies,  to  which  shall  be  allotted  decision  on  such  local 
affairs ;  or  the  giving  to  the  great  municipalities  themselves 
of  a  more  complete  power  of  dealing  with  their  own  business. 
None  of  these  have  as  yet  commanded  general  approval,  and 
the  old  system  seems  likely  to  continue  for  years  or 
generations. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  describe  in  detail  all  the  com- 
plicated and  special  procedure  which  has  to  be  carried  out 
before  a  private  Bill  becomes  law.  There  are  arrangements 
by  which  it  must  be  proved  to  have  behind  it  the  settled 
support  of  the  majority  of  the  Council,  and  to  appear  to  have 
the  support  of  the  town  itself.  There  are  arrangements  for 
the  classification  and  qualification  of  those  who  wish,  being 
injuriously  affected  directly  in  their  interests,  to  prevent 
the  Bill  becoming  a  law,  or  to  modify  it  in  some  provision. 
And  there  are  arrangements  by  which  officials  of  the  Houses 
of  Parliament,  the  Speaker,  the  Chairman  and  Vice-Chairman 
of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  the  Lord  Chairman  of 

i  These  stages  are  described  in  a  later  chapter  on  Law  Making 
in  Parliament. 


LITTLE  LAWS  AND  LOCAL  LAWS  107 

the  House  of  Lords,  shall  examine  in  detail  both  opposed 
and  unopposed  private  Bills  in  order  to  insure  that  the 
general  public  interest,  as  well  as  private  interests,  are  not 
aversely  affected  by  them. 

The  Bills  have  to  pass  through  all  the  stages  of  public 
Bills,  with  this  great  difference — that  the  Committee  stage, 
instead  of  being  legislative  and  debating,  is  judicial.  In 
an  ordinary  Committee  stage  of  a  public  Bill,  some  forty 
or  sixty  members  discuss  each  line  of  the  measure,  just 
as  if  it  were  a  little  Parliament,  and  no  one  else  is  allowed 
to  open  his  mouth  or  interfere  in  the  discussion.  In  the 
Committee  stage  of  a  private  Bill,  some  four  or  five 
members  who  are  supposed  to  be  impartial  are  appointed 
to  sit  as  judges,  and  these,  instead  of  debating  among 
themselves,  listen  to  lawyers,  who  are  paid  immense  sums 
of  money,  either  by  the  Town  Councils  or  by  the  opponents 
of  the  Town  Councils,  to  argue  in  front  of  them 
for  or  against,  in  just  the  same  fashion  as  if  they  were 
arguing  in  a  law  court.  The  Committee  comes  to  a  kind 
of  judicial  decision  after  hearing  these  arguments  on  the 
various  clauses  of  the  Bill,  and  reports  its  decision  to  the 
House;  and  if  its  decision  is  accepted  the  Bill  then  passes 
through  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  House  of  Lords. 
You  may  have  two  such  Committees  with  all  the  arguments 
recapitulated,  one  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  one  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  or  you  may  have  one  agreeing  to  accept 
the  other's  decision;  or  you  may  have  a  Bill  referred  to 
a  joint  committee  of  both. 

The  whole  of  this  work,  which  is  carried  on  in  small 
rooms  in  the  Palace  of  Westminster,  is  almost  unknown 
to  the  public,  and  only  a  few  members  of  Parliament,  who 
are  interested  in  the  subject,  take  part  in  it.  Through 


108  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

its  operation,  scores  of  private  Bills  and  Provisional  Orders 
are  passed  into  law  every  year.1 

Many  great  cities  promote  normally,  as  part  of  their 
natural  activities  every  year,  private  Bills,  to  obtain  powers 
which  they  think  will  benefit  their  town  on  a  most  miscel- 
laneous variety  of  subjects.  These  are  called  "Omnibus 
Bills."  Examples  given  in  a  modern  work  describe,  for 
example,  such  Omnibus  Bills  as  those  promoted  in  one  year 
by  Halifax  and  Rochdale.  The  first  was  a  tramway  Bill, 
with  a  number  of  most  heterogeneous  clauses,  including 
power  to  inspect  milk-farms  both  within  and  outside  the 
city;  also  to  prohibit  the  purchase  of  milk  drawn  from 
tuberculous  cows,  and  for  establishing  reading-rooms  and 
restaurants  in  the  parks,  for  making  regulations  against 
noises  in  the  streets,  and  for  increasing  the  number  of  in- 
spectors of  nuisances.  The  second  was  a  Bill  to  establish 
tramways  and  various  electrical  undertakings,  to  increase 
the  expenditure  on  education  and  libraries,  to  obtain  powers 
to  regulate  trade  in  ice  cream,  etc.  An  examination  of 
dozens  of  these  will  show  that  in  general  the  desire  is  to  do 
what  other  towns  have  already  done,  or  to  fill  up  gaps  in 
general  legislation,  or  to  provide  for  the  particular  needs 
of  a  particular  town  in  connexion  with  some  particular 

i  A  Provisional  Order  is  an  attempt  to  effect  the  same  purpose 
as  a  private  Bill,  with  the  saving  of  expense  and  complications.  It 
may  be  roughly  (not  precisely)  defined  as  a  piece  of  legislation 
designed  to  effect  the  same  result  as  a  private  Bill,  but  which  is 
backed  by  a  Government  Department,  and  therefore  receives  a  kind 
of  preliminary  guarantee  that  it  is  in  the  general  public  interest. 
Through  such  a  backing  certain  expenses  are  saved,  and  a  very  large 
proportion  of  Provisional  Orders  go  through  unopposed.  But  if 
a  Provisional  Order  adversely  affects  certain  interests,  those  interests 
have  the  same  right  to  oppose  it  before  a  Judicial  Select  Committee 
as  they  have  to  oppose  a  private  Bill,  and  it  is  such  opposition,  with 
its  enormous  legal  expenditure,  which  is  the  real  subject  of  a  cost 
which  is  something  of  the  nature  of  a  scandal. 


LITTLE  LAWS  AND  LOCAL  LAWS  109 

development,  as  a  watering  place,  or  a  commercial  port, 
or  a  centre  of  industry,  or  a  residential  and  suburban  area. 
Or  again,  to  press  forward  into  some  new  municipal  de- 
velopment of  trade  or  control,  which  may  ultimately  be 
embodied  in  general  legislation  for  all  local  bodies.  These 
last  projects  are  the  ones  most  carefully  scrutinized  by 
those  concerned  with  private  Bills,  and  are  the  proposals 
which  have  most  difficulty  in  passing. 

No  one  concerned  with  this  enormous  amount  of  local  law 
would  regard  the  apparatus  for  the  making  of  it  as  alto- 
gether satisfactory.  It  is  both  cumbersome  and  costly. 
The  expenses  of  it  represent  an  enormous  drain  on  municipal 
and  other  resources.  In  a  period  of  seven  years  towards 
the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century — not  years  of  special 
expense,  but  a  period  chosen  at  random — the  total  amount 
spent  by  local  authorities  in  promoting  and  opposing 
private  Bills  was  nearly  one  million  four  hundred  thousand 
pounds ;  private  companies  expended  nearly  three  million 
pounds,  and  the  grand  total  expended  in  the  private  Bill 
legislation  was  four  and  a  half  millions. 

All  this  money  passes  to  lawyers  (the  Parliamentary  Bar 
being  a  lucrative  branch  of  the  profession),  to  agents, 
solicitors,  clerks,  expenses  of  witnesses,  and  a  huge  apparatus 
of  vested  interest  in  legislative  litigation,  not  far  different 
from  that  satirized  by  Dickens  and  others  nearly  a  hundred 
years  ago.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  it  is  regarded 
as  unnecessary  for  lawyers  to  be  employed  to  argue  before 
members  of  Parliament  concerning  Bills  which  affect  the 
pockets  of  millions,  but  to  be  essential  for  them  to  be  so  in 
the  passage  of  Bills  in  which  Town  Councils  attempt  to 
effect  some  small  improvement  in  civic  life.  The  motive 
power  behind  is  undoubtedly  the  uniting  of  property  and 
vested  interest,  in  the  fear  that  local  authorities  will  treat 


110  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

these  too  roughly  in  seeking  the  general  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, at  the  expense  of,  or  with  indifference  to,  the  posses- 
sions and  rights  of  private  persons.  It  is  also  due  to  the 
fact  that  municipal  corporations,  in  many  of  their  enter- 
prises, such  as  supply  of  tramways  or  electricity,  are  in 
open  competition  with  private  companies  who  desire  to 
obtain  these  monopoly  rights.  And  as  the  stake  is  a  high 
one,  and  the  booty  great,  by  freely  spending  money  on  the 
apparatus  of  persuasion,  these  companies  force  the  munici- 
palities to  a  similar  expenditure.  A  second  blemish  is  that, 
whereas  the  wealthy  interests  who  think  themselves  liable  to 
injury  from  any  such  private  Bills,  employ  persons  who 
are  active  and  vigilant  to  protect  them,  the  interests  of  the 
poor,  if  they  conflict  with  the  municipal  ideal,  are  hardly 
preserved  at  all.  They  never  know  of  the  injury  that  is 
to  be  done  to  them  until  the  blow  has  fallen.1 

And  the  third  criticism  is  of  the  enormous  waste  of  time, 

i  An  interesting  example  of  this  was  provided  at  the  Home  Office, 
when  I  was  there,  by  a  private  Bill,  passed  by  the  City  of  London 
without  opposition,  enabling  it  to  make  certain  By-Laws  for  dealing 
with  the  sale  of  articles  in  its  streets.  The  result  was  a  submission 
of  the  By-Law  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  which  designed  to  sweep 
suddenly  away  from  all  the  principal  streets  of  the  city  all  coster- 
mongers  and  their  barrows,  many  of  whom  had  plied  a  perfectly 
innocuous  and  legal  trade  for  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  years,  and  all 
of  whom,  depending  on  the  day  City  traffic  demand,  would  have  been 
completely  ruined  if  the  By-Law  had  been  approved.  We  insisted 
upon  such  modification  of  it  as  would  admit  of  those  who  had  estab- 
lished through  time  vested  interest  in  a  trade  hitherto  perfectly  legal, 
and  even  welcomed  by  the  population,  to  continue  in  their  avocation, 
and  obtained  the  touching  gratitude  of  the  poor  persons  whom  we 
had  protected.  But  here  was  a  case  in  which  these  persons  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  doom  which  was  being  prepared  for  them  by  ;i 
private  Bill,  and  no  means  of  paying  lawyers  to  put  their  case  before 
the  Committee.  Whereas,  if  the  Bill  had  affected  the  vested  interests 
of,  say,  publicans  or  landlords,  thousands  of  pounds  would  have  been 
spent  in  endeavoring  to  prevent  its  passage  into  law. 


LITTLE  LAWS  AND  LOCAL  LAWS  111 

energy,  and  money  in  dragging  up  mayors,  town  clerks, 
local  solicitors,  witnesses,  whose  expenses  have  to  be  paid 
from  a  town,  say,  in  Cumberland  or  Cornwall,  to  argue 
their  case  before  a  tiny  committee  of  four  or  five  in  West- 
minster, on  points  which  only  concern  those  Cumberland 
or  Cornish  towns.  It  is  as  if,  to  take  a  rough  parallel, 
justice  was  administered  solely  from  the  central  law  courts, 
and  there  were  no  local  magistrates,  and  no  local  county 
courts,  and  no  judges  or  commissoners  of  assize. 

In  any  case,  here  is  the  system  as  it  exists.  There  is 
this  to  be  said  in  its  favour  that  there  has  never  been  a 
charge  or  even  a  suggestion  of  corruption  in  connexion  with 
it,  and  that  in  itself  is  no  mean  gain  considering  the  past 
history  of  municipal  corruption,  and  present  manisfestations 
in  other  lands,  with  the  enormous  temptations  offered  by 
the  advantage,  often  amounting  to  millions  of  pounds,  which 
members  of  the  Committee  might  give  to  private  persons. 
It  is  also  declared  by  a  competent  American  critic  l  with 
experience  of  methods  in  his  own  country,  that  if  "The 
English  system  of  private  Bill  legislation  has  its  defects, 
they  are  far  more  than  outweighed  by  its  merits.  The 
curse  of  most  representative  bodies  at  the  present  day 
is  the  tendency  of  the  members  to  urge  the  interests  of 
their  localities  or  their  constituents.  It  is  this,  more  than 
anything  else,  that  has  brought  legislatures  into  discredit, 
and  has  made  them  appear  to  be  concerned  with  a  tangled 
skein  of  private  interests  rather  than  with  the  public  wel- 
fare. It  is  this  which  makes  possible  the  American  'boss,' 
who  draws  his  resources  from  his  profession  of  private  Bill 
broker.  Now  the  very  essence  of  the  English  system  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  tends  to  remove  private  and  local  Bills 
from  the  general  field  of  political  discussion,  and  thus  helps 

i  Professor  Lowell:     "The  Government  of  England,"  vol.  2,  p.  391. 


112  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

to  rivet  the  attention  of  Parliament  upon  public  matters. 
A  ministry  stands  or  falls  upon  its  general  legislative  and 
administrative  record,  and  not  because  it  has  offended  one 
member  by  opposing  the  demands  of  a  powerful  company, 
and  another  by  ignoring  the  desires  of  a  borough  council." 
Despite  the  eulogy  of  present  conditions,  it  is  probable 
that  in  the  near  future  this  system  is  destined  to  considerable 
change,  and  that  by  the  application  of  what  is  sometimes 
called  "devolution,"  the  passage  of  local  laws  desired  by 
the  cities  may  be  partially  or  wholly  removed  from  Parlia- 
ment and  Westminster,  and  the  way  rendered  easier  and 
less  costly  for  readjustment  of  boundaries  and  other  vital 
civic  requirements. 


CHAPTER     VII 

HOW    HE    PAYS    AND    WHAT    HE    PAYS    FOR 
RATES 

In  considering  these  many  activities  of  a  Town  Council, 
it  has  become  more  and  more  apparent  that  this  Council 
has  to  spend  money  on  a  large  scale.  It  has  to  spend  on 
what  I  have  called  the  first  needs  of  civilization — police, 
lighting,  drainage,  etc.  It  has  to  spend  on  the  luxuries  it 
provides — parks,  libraries,  baths,  museums.  And  it  has  to 
spend  on  the  various  municipal  enterprises  it  embarks  upon 
until  these  pay  their  own  way.  And  if  they  never  pay  their 
own  way,  it  has  to  make  up  the  annual  deficit  upon  them. 

Where  does  all  this  money  come  from? 

In  theory  most  of  it  comes  from  the  "Borough  Fund," 
which  is  made  up  of  all  the  rents,  or  interest  on  the  property 
possessed  by  the  borough,  and  of  such  items  as  fines,  port 
or  market  dues,  ferry  or  other  rights,  or  any  money  paid 
to  the  borough  for  any  purpose,  for  any  property  or 
privilege  which  it  can  legally  provide  in  exchange. 

If  the  old  boroughs  had  been  wise  in  their  generation,  or 
the  new  boroughs  less  rigorously  limited  by  Parliament, 
many  or  both  might  have  been  today  in  such  a  position  as 
to  derive  enormous  income  from  the  Borough  Fund; 
adequate  to  pay  both  for  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of 
civic  life. 

Many  of  the  cities  own  land,  inherited  or  in  some  way 
obtained  from  former  generations,,  and  these  lands  provide 

113 


114,  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

substantial  rents,  so  that  in  some  this  rent  substantially 
reduces  the  amount  of  the  rates.  And  in  so  fortunate  a 
city  as,  for  example,  Doncaster,  these  rents  provided  all 
the  municipal  revenue,  and  there  was  no  need  to  levy  a 
rate  at  all. 

If  all  the  cities  at  the  time  of  their  great  development 
had  been  given  the  power,  and  had  exercised  the  power, 
of  buying  up  the  waste  or  marsh  or  meadow  land  that  sur- 
rounded them  when  these  lands  could  have  been  obtained 
for  a  few  pounds  an  acre,  they  could  have  obtained  all  the 
"increment"  which  has  been  piled  up  upon  that  land  through 
the  growth  of  the  city ;  values  of  tens  of  thousands  or  even 
of  millions  of  pounds,  which  have  thus  been  given  away  to  the 
original  owner  or  the  private  speculator. 

The  question  whether  any  of  this  "increment"  can  be 
got  back  for  the  municipality  is  a  question  of  political 
controversy,  with  which  this  book  has  no  concern.  But 
two  propositions  would  be  accepted  by  men  of  all  Parties 
alike.  The  one  is  that  growing  cities  are  continually  adding 
to  the  value  of  the  land  on  which  they  stand  and  the  land 
adjacent  to  them  through  expenditure  on  civic  improve- 
ments to  which  the  owners  of  that  land  itself  contribute 
little  or  nothing.  The  second  is,  that  if  great  towns  like 
London,  Liverpool,  or  Manchester  had  bought  at  market 
price  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  bulk 
of  the  land  within  their  boundaries,  the  communal  wealth 
•would  now  not  only  be  so  great  as  to  relieve  the  citizens 
from  all  rates  at  all,  but  would  provide  them  also  with  such 
surplus  as  would  enable  them  to  make  these  cities  more 
splendid  and  desirable  than  any  cities  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

The  reality  is  mournfully  otherwise.  In  the  overwhelming 
number  of  boroughs,  contribution  to  this  Borough  Fund 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  115 

other  than  by  rates  (or  the  occasional  profits  of  municipal 
trading)  are  practically  negligible.  The  substantial  bulk 
of  the  money  required  has  to  be  raised  by  these  levies  which 
were  originally  intended  to  be  only  small  and  occasional 
contributions  to  the  Borough  Fund. 

As  an  "Income  Tax,"  fiercely  hated  by  all,  imposed  first 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  war,  and  only  continued  from 
year  to  year  with  apology  by  governments  of  all  Parties, 
has  now  become  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  national  system  of 
taxation  as  to  provide  the  bulk  of  the  national  revenue; 
so  these  "Rates,"  perhaps  more  bitterly  hated,  which  may 
roughly  be  called  a  municipal  equivalent  to  the  income  tax, 
have  practically  swept  away  all  other  sources  of  municipal 
revenue,  and  have  attained  dimensions  which  fill  the  house- 
holder with  consternation  and  despair. 

In  England  of  yesterday,  and  in  European  towns  today, 
there  were  practical  alternatives.  In  some  Continental 
towns  Octrois  are  established  on  all  the  roads  leading  to 
the  city,  and  the  merchants  and  peasants  who  bring  food 
and  commodities  into  the  city  have  to  pay  a  levy  in  accord- 
ance with  a  fixed  rate  on  each  particular  article ;  and  moneys 
thus  obtained  go  to  the  funds  of  the  city.  Other  towns 
have  issued  their  own  postage  stamps,  or  their  own  paper 
money,  or  in  various  ways  tax  the  stranger  who  visits  them ; 
or  have  even,  as  in  the  case  of  Deauville  or  Monte  Carlo, 
or  cities  which  run  municipal  betting,  drawn  large  sums 
from  the  gambling  instincts  of  mankind.  But  all  such 
methods  no  longer  exist,  or  never  have  existed,  in  England. 
The  impost  which  raises  the  city  revenue  is  this  levy  which 
is  laid  upon  the  annual  value  of  property,  occupied  by 
individual  householders  and  owners,  which  is  called  a  rate. 

And  of  all  imposts  which  have  ever  been  collected  from 
the  unfortunate  families  of  mankind,  none,  I  suppose,  have 


116  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

been  more  bitterly  hated  than  this  municipal  rate.  The 
very  name  "ratepayer"  suggests  a  man  writhing  and  cursing 
under  an  imposition  from  which  he  is  unable  to  escape.  A 
Ratepayers'  Association  is  not,  as  a  rule,  an  association 
concerned  with  the  fact  that  the  rates  shall  be  well  spent.  It 
is  concerned  with  the  fact  that  the  rates  shall  not  be  spent 
at  all. 

Part  of  the  hatred  of  these  rates  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  form  a  direct,  naked  impost  collected  as  a  substantial 
sum  twice  a  year  from  the  tenant  who  is  occupying  the  house. 
This  tenant,  therefore,  thinks  that  he  is  directly  paying 
the  rates,  and  not  his  landlord,  and  that  if  the  rates  go  up, 
he  is  to  that  extent  poorer.  Whether,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
he  does  really  pay  the  rate  is  a  matter  of  controversy  upon 
which  many  volumes  have  been  written,  with  no  very  profit- 
able result.  If  he  owns  his  house  as  well  as  occupies  it,  he 
undoubtedly  pays  the  rate,  and  any  increase  of  the  rate. 
The  same  is  true  if  he  is  holding  his  house  on  a  long  lease 
in  which  he  has  agreed  to  pay  all  the  rates.  But  even  then 
it  is  doubtful  if  he  pays  as  owner  or  as  occupier.  Whether, 
that  is  to  say,  if  he  could  divide  his  personality  into  two, 
and  charge  himself  what  is  called  an  economic  rent  for  his 
own  house,  the  rate  itself  and  the  increase  in  the  rate  might 
not  come  out  of  this  economic  rent,  which  otherwise  would 
be  greater  or  less  in  proportion.  All  kinds  of  attempts  have 
been  made  to  promote  schemes  by  which  the  owner,  instead 
of  the  occupier,  should  pay  part  of  the  rate;  the  most 
commonly  advocated  being  a  division  of  half  and  half.  And 
undoubtedly,  if  such  a  scheme  came  into  law  in  connexion 
with  property  held  on  leases,  and  with  no  provision  made 
for  a  breaking  or  alteration  of  the  leases,  any  desired  amount 
could  be  legally  and  practically  (if  perhaps  unfairly)  trans- 
ferred from  tenant  to  owner  until  the  lease  came  to  an  end. 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  117 

But  whether  in  the  case  of  all  annual  payments,  if  permission 
to  break  a  lease  was  given,  the  landlord  could  not  immedi- 
ately transfer  his  new  legal  share  of  the  rate  into  an  in- 
creased rent,  remains  a  subject  of  uncertain  controversy. 
Does  the  landlord  anyhow  squeeze  out  of  the  tenant  all  he 
can  get?.  Does  the  tenant  contribute  to  the  landlord  all 
he  can  pay? 

The  second  cause  of  this  universal  hatred  is  due  to  the 
belief  that  on  the  whole  the  enjoyments  of  one  class  are 
paid  for  by  the  enforced  contributions  from  another.  This 
does  not  appeal  so  much  in  the  case,  for  example,  of  taxes 
for  national  defence,  in  which,  indeed,  the  rich  have  to  pay 
much  more  than  the  poor,  but  in  which  the  rich  have  more 
property  worth  defending.  But  in  the  case  of  such  heavy 
extortions  as  the  rate  for  Education  or  the  Poor  Law,  the 
mass  of  the  small  middle-class  householders  find  money 
taken  from  them  for  purposes  from  which  they  get  no 
conceivable  benefit.  In  America,  all  contribute  to  the  com- 
mon school,  and  all  attend  the  common  school.  In  England, 
for  better  or  worse,  the  richer  ratepayers  are  compelled  to 
contribute  to  the  common  school,  but  their  children  do  not 
attend  it.  And  they  therefore  find  themselves  compelled  to 
pay,  for  other  people's  children,  amounts  which  they  often 
desperately  need  for  the  education  of  their  own.  Why  their 
own  do  not  attend  the  common  school  is  a  subject  of  interest 
outside  the  scope  of  this  book. 

A  third  reason  for  hatred  is  specially  among  the  house- 
holders who  own  their  own  houses,  or  have  them  on  lease. 
For  these  find  rates  increasing  owing  to  the  votes  or  policy 
of  those  who  do  not  pay  rates,  or  think  they  do  not  pay 
rates,  and  these  rates  increasing  with  no  means  of  escape, 
ajid  no  improvement  in  their  incomes  to  compensate.  Rather 
does  the  increase  of  rates  on  their  freeholds  and  leases  send 


118  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

down  the  values  of  these  freeholds  or  leases,  if  they  find  the 
burden  intolerable,  and  wish  to  sell  out  and  move  away.  In 
the  case  of  Income  Tax,  for  example,  variation  is  in  pro- 
portion to  income.  And  if  you  pay  extra  Income  Tax  with 
increased  profits,  you  know,  at  least,  that  you  are  receiving 
increased  profits,  and  are  generally  better  off.  But  the 
rate  has  nothing  to  do  with  an  income,  but  is  levied  on  the 
house  or  land  you  occupy,  and  therefore  may  continue  to 
increase  while  your  income  itself  continually  declines,  and 
you  have  no  remedy  or  redress.  Iron-hearted  officials  send 
round  demand  notes  insisting  that  you  shall  pay  large  and 
ever-increasing  sums  for  objects  you  know  nothing  about, 
pursued  by  men  whose  names  you  have  never  even  heard  of. 
And  if  you  refuse,  you  may  be  prosecuted,  and  your  goods 
sold,  and  you  yourself  clapped  into  gaol.  A  man  can  never 
be  compelled  to  pay  more  than  a  proportion  of  his  income 
to  Income  Tax ;  and  if  he  is  making  no  profit  he  will  pay  no 
Income  Tax  at  all.  But  a  man  may  occupy  a  house  and 
land  without  making  a  penny  profit,  and  without  having 
any  other  source  of  income,  and  the  inexorable  rate  collector 
will  still  demand  from  him  his  quota  of  contribution ;  even  to 
twenty  shillings  in  the  pound. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  chief  cry  against  the  rates 
is  found  in  the  country  districts  among  the  landowners  and 
farmers,  the  value  of  whose  real  property,  that  is,  the  solid 
things,  land  and  houses  and  buildings,  is  far  greater  in  pro- 
portion to  the  value  of  their  total  property  than  in  the  case 
of  the  wealthier  residents  of  the  great  towns.  A  millionaire, 
for  instance,  in  a  big  city,  may  rent  a  small,  commodious 
flat,  or  live  in  a  suite  of  rooms  in  an  hotel,  and  on  such 
flat  or  rooms  he  would  scarcely  pay  any  rates  at  all. 
Whereas  a  man  with  similar  property  in  land  and  country 
houses  might  pay,  though  no  richer,  a  hundred  times  as 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  119 

much  in  rates  as  the  other.  It  may  be  said  that  he  has 
more  real  property  to  be  protected,  and  therefore  should 
pay  more  for  the  police ;  and  perhaps  more  use  of  the  roads, 
and  therefore  should  pay  more  for  their  upkeep,  although 
that  argument  is  of  less  force  today  than  yesterday  now 
that  the  rich  men  sally  forth  from  their  cities  into  the 
country-side  like  bandits  from  a  mediaeval  fortress,  and 
with  their  highpower  motors  tear  up  the  roads  of  local 
authorities,  to  whose  local  highway  rate  (apart  from  national 
contribution)  they  provide  nothing  at  all.  But  why  the 
landowner  should  pay  so  much  more  than  the  homeless  mil- 
lionaire for  the  national  support  of  the  poor,  or  for  the 
national  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor,  remains  a 
controversial  subject.  The  main  reply  is  that,  from  time 
to  time,  beyond  the  memory  of  man,  the  support  of  the  poor 
has  been  one  of  the  obligations  laid  upon  the  owners  of 
land,  and  that  any  change  would  be  a  free  gift  from  the 
whole  community  to  the  landlords.  To  these  arguments 
the  landlords  reply  that  it  was  by  no  means  certain  at  law 
that  the  burden  of  the  Poor  Law,  and  subsequent  develop- 
ments in  social  amelioration,  should  be  laid  only  on  real 
property ;  that  this  was  only  settled  by  a  contested  decision 
in  an  Act,  not  of  settled  legislation,  but  carried  on  tempor- 
arily from  year  to  year.  Their  plaints  appear  to  be  so 
far  justified  that  Governments  are  always  giving  them 
"grants-in-aid"  from  the  Exchequer  to  lighten  the  rates, 
or  paying  for  services  by  the  taxes,  or  passing  Bills  to 
lighten  or  diminish  the  burden  of  the  rate  upon  agricultural 
land,  to  the  indignation  of  the  town  populations.  But  the 
whole  question  of  the  rates,  the  incidence  of  the  rates,  who 
shall  pay  the  rates,  and  in  respect  of  what  kind  of  property 
they  shall  be  paid,  is  a  subject  of  flux  and  upheaval,  in 
which  no  finality  has  been  established.  A  dozen  Commis- 


I 


120  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

sions  have  reported  with  divers  recommendations.  A  score 
of  Bills  have  been  introduced  and  withdrawn  year  after 
year;  and  whatever  form  change  will  take,  it  is  impossible 
to  imagine  that  change  will  not  some  day  come. 

What  are  these  "Rates,"  and  on  what  system  does  the 
city  raise  money  through  them?  They  are  not  levies  im- 
posed upon  the  wealth  of  each  citizen  or  upon  the  income 
of  each  citizen.  They  are  levies  imposed  upon  the  tenant 
or  occupier  of  each  kind  of  property  he  occupies  in  pro- 
portion to  the  annual  value  which  is  set  upon  that  property. 
This  value  is  decided  by  a  committee  who  are  supposed  to 
make  a  just  estimate  of  the  differing  values ;  in  the  simplest 
case,  for  example,  of  the  value  of  different  houses.  If 
the  one  is  put  down  at  forty  pounds  a  year,  and  the  other 
at  eighty  pounds  a  year,  if  the  assessment  is  just,  the  one 
house  would  be  equal  in  annual  value  to  about  twice  as  much 
as  the  other,  and  could  be  let  at  about  twice  the  rent  of 
the  other,  after  calculated  deductions  for  repairs.  If  you 
see  a  statement  that  the  rates  are,  say  ten  shillings  in  the 
pound,  this  will  mean  that  the  man  occupying  the  house 
valued  at  forty  pounds  a  year  will  pay,  in  addition  to  his 
rent  to  the  landlord,  twenty  pounds  a  year  to  the  Munici- 
pality and  Guardians  for  the  various  rates  levied  upon  him 
for  public  purposes.  And  if  eighty  pounds  a  year  is  the 
assessed  value,  he  will  pay  forty  pounds  for  similar  pur- 
poses, and  so  in  proportion  for  all. 

In  dealing  with  rates,  therefore,  there  are  evidently  two 
processes  which  are  sometimes  confused  in  the  popular  mind. 
There  is  first  the  making  of  the  valuation  of  all  real  prop- 
erty within  the  town  council  or  rateable  area,  which,  after 
many  complications,  results  in  a  final  entry  in  the  rate-book 
for  a  term  of  years  of  a  certain  figure  in  pounds,  against 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  121 

the  name  of  each  particular  citizen  or  company  which  oc- 
cupies any  piece  or  fragment  of  property  within  that  town. 
And  there  is  secondly  the  making  of  the  estimates  of  the  \ 
financial    requirements    for   the   municipal   and   other   com-    ' 
munal  expenditure,  the  apportionment  of  the  total  amount 
as  between  citizens  and  companies  so  assessed,  and  the  proc- 
ess of  transferring  that  amount  from  private  pockets  to 
the  Borough  Fund. 

The  whole  system  of  rating  grew  up  automatically,  and 
almost  unconsciously.  It  started  (for  secular  purposes)  in  \ 
the  Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth  in  1602,  by  which  the  duty  of 
caring  for  the  poor  in  the  parish  was  attached  to  the  office 
of  churchwarden,  with  special  "overseers  of  the  poor"  ap- 
pointed by  the  vestry,  and  the  duty  laid  upon  them  to  levy 
such  tax  upon  the  whole  parish  as  was  necessary  to  keep 
these  poor  from  starvation. 

That  tax,  in  order  to  be  fairly  distributed  between  man 
and  man,  required  a  "valuation,"  to  see  what  proportion 
each  should  pay.  That  valuation  was  made  by  the  over- 
seers of  the  parish.  Later,  when  the  parishes  in  1834  were 
united  into  Unions,  governed  by  Guardians  of  the  Poor, 
the  valuation  of  the  parish  overseers  was  checked  and 
rendered  harmonious  as  between  one  parish  and  another  by 
the  Assessment  Committee  of  the  Boards  of  Guardians. 
This  became,  therefore,  the  valuation  of  property  for  the 
poor  rate.  And  as  other  rates  came  to  be  levied  by  the 
towns  to  pay  for  fresh  duties  laid  upon  them  in  connexion 
with  public  health,  drainage,  paving  and  lighting,  water  sup- 
ply, and  the  like,  and  it  seemed  both  expensive  and  con- 
troversial to  have  separate  valuations  of  property,  the  as- 
sessment for  poor  rate  came  to  be  accepted  as  the  assessment 
for  all  rates,  and  the  value  put  upon  property  by  the  over- 
seers and  guardians  as  the  values  upon  which  were  levied 


122  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

other  forms  of  municipal  taxation.  The  valuation  is  in  some 
districts  carried  out  by  the  municipal  authority,  and  in  many 
the  actual  collection  of  the  money  is  conducted  by  them. 
But  the  system  remains  essentially  unbroken.  The  whole 
revenue  of  these  enormous  cities,  and  their  systems  of  rais- 
ing it,  are  traceable  back  to  contrivance  by  which,  in  a  little 
England  without  railways  or  posts  or  telegraphs  or  great 
towns,  arrangements  were  made  that  through  the  apparatus 
of  the  churches  and  the  church  officers,  each  little  village 
should  support  its  own  poor. 

This  poor  rate  grew  out  of  a  church  rate,  which  was  the 
oldest  form  of  local  taxation  in  England,  and  which  was 
levied  on  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish  for  the  improve- 
ment or  repair  of  the  parish  church,  and  for  the  cost  of  the 
religious  services  within  it.  Of  what  a  poor  rate  should  be 
there  seems  to  have  been  little  controversy — whether  it 
should  be  levied  on  visible  property,  or  on  all  wealth  and 
income.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  in  those  days  there  was 
not  much  wealth  or  income  which  was  not  visible  property. 
The  Judges  of  Assize  interpreted  the  statute  as  meaning 
that  the  assessment  "ought  to  be  made  according  to  the 
visible  estate  of  the  inhabitants,  both  real  and  personal." 
And  it  is  this  interpretation  which  has  created  that  enor- 
mous difference  between  national  and  municipal  taxation, 
and  has  been  the  subject  of  endless  controversy.  National 
taxation  takes  money  from  the  individual  in  proportion  to 
all  the  wealth  he  has.  Municipal  taxation  takes  money  from 
the  citizen  in  proportion  to  the  annual  value  of  the  house 
or  land,  or  other  visible  or  tangible  thing  within  the  limits 
of  the  town. 

"Thus,  the  standard  of  ability,"  says  a  well-known 
authority,  "or  rather  of  rateability,  was  decided  (in  ac- 
cordance with  the  obvious  intention  of  the  statute)  to  be 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  123 

visible  estate.  To  avoid  the  mischief  of  a  local  inquisition 
into  incomes  was  no  doubt  the  aim  of  the  legislature,  and 
in  accordance  with  this  principle  stock-in-trade  was  even- 
tually exempted  from  valuation  for  rating  purposes.  So 
that  'visible  property'  for  rating  purposes  practically 
came  to  mean  real  property.  Thus  was  laid  the  founda- 
tion stone  upon  which  is  built  the  whole  structure  of  local 
taxation  in  England.  Local  expenditure  is  still  defrayed  by 
rates.  Rates  are  based  upon  the  poor  rate,  and  the  poor 
rate  is  still  governed  by  the  principle  laid  down  in  this 
unrepealed  Statute  of  Elizabeth."  * 

The  actual  process  is  somewhat  as  follows.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  there  is  always  a  valuation  upon  which  the 
rates  are  being  levied  at  any  given  moment.  No  assess- 
ment committee,  that  is  to  say,  has  suddenly  to  make  a  fresh 
start  in  the  valuation  of  property,  like  the  fresh  start  that 
was  made  in  the  valuation  of  land  by  the  famous  Budget  of 
1909-10.  All  that  has  to  be  done  is  to  be  valuing  always 
new  property  when  it  is  created,  such  as  a  new  house,  or 
factory,  or  cinema  hall;  and  from  time  to  time  to  revise 
the  values  of  old  property  in  accordance  with  the  estimate 
of  whether  that  property  has  gone  up  or  down  in  value. 
A  common  method  is  to  make  what  is  called  a  quinquennial 
valuation,  which  formidable  title  merely  means  that  the 
values  are  varied  at  the  end  of  every  five  years.  At  this 
time  the  overseers  go  through  their  lists,  announce  that  prop- 
erty is  going  to  be  re-valued  for  rating  purposes,  and  pro- 
ceed to  alter  the  figures  in  the  valuation  book  in  accordance 
with  their  opinion  of  where  value  has  increased  or  dimin- 
ished. If,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  houses,  there  is  for 
any  reason  a  house  famine,  and  owing  to  competition  for 
accommodation,  rents  are  going  up,  it  is  exceedingly  pos- 

i  "Local  Government  in  England."     Redlich  &  Hirst.  Vol.  1,  p.  24. 


124  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

sible  that  the  assessment  of  all  the  houses  for  rating  pur- 
poses will  go  up  also,  to  the  no  small  indignation  of  the 
persons  who  are  paying  the  same  rent,  and  who  cannot 
understand  why,  under  such  conditions,  their  houses  should 
be  regarded  as  of  greater  value.  If,  in  another  district, 
the  population  is  diminishing,  and  the  houses  are  large  and 
derelict,  the  valuation,  or  the  successful  appeal  against  the 
valuation,  may  cause  a  reduction  of  the  former  figure,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  actual  value  of  the  rent  of  the  houses 
must  be  lower.  And  this  also  is  independent  of  the  fact 
that  in  many  of  them  the  rent  itself  has  not  varied.  These 
changes,  the  principles  of  which  are  little  understood  by 
their  victims,  have  helped  to  excite  a  general  distrust  of  the 
methods  of  overseers  and  assessment  committees,  and  un- 
doubtedly there  are  few  more  unpopular  officials  than  those 
who  carry  out  this  task  of  extraordinary  difficulty  and  com- 
plexity. Beyond  the  question  of  variation  or  favouritism, 
as  it  is  sometimes  unkindly  called,  between  different  sections 
of  the  same  kind  of  property,  such  as  inhabited  houses,  there 
are  further  charges  of  favouritism  between  different  kinds 
of  property.  One  assessment  committee  will  be  suspected 
of  over-valuing  factories  and  under-valuing  houses,  or  under- 
valuing both  factories  and  houses,  while  over-valuing  land 
or  vice  versa ;  or,  as  in  the  commonest  charge,  of  under- 
valuing the  property  of  the  citizens,  while  over-valuing  the 
property  of  those  who  are  not  citizens ;  such  as,  for  example, 
a  piece  of  railway  which  passes  through  the  parish  or 
town.  And,  indeed,  it  would  seem  almost  to  pass  the  limits 
of  human  intelligence  rightly  to  estimate  the  value  for  local 
assessment  of  a  piece  of  trunk-line  of  railway,  which  perhaps 
receives  little  or  no  traffic  from  the  parish  through  which 
it  passes,  but  is  merely  a  kind  of  pipe-line,  putting  into 
communication  populous  areas  on  each  side.  Then  there 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  125 

are  charges  of  variation  between  one  parish  and  another 
in  the  same  assessment  area.  And  there  are  recognized 
enormous  variations  between  different  assessment  areas. 
One  local  authority  finds  it  convenient  to  put  all  the  valua- 
tions high,  and  thus  impose  a  smaller  general  rate  in  the 
pound  in  order  to  obtain  a  sum  of  money  equivalent  to  that 
which  another  local  authority  will  raise  by  putting  all  the 
valuations  low,  but  imposing  a  larger  rate  in  the  pound. 
Such  variations  are  stimulated  largely  by  the  methods  and 
conditions  under  which  grants  are  given  in  aid  of  the  rates 
by  the  Central  Government  out  of  the  taxes,  it  being  the 
object  and  purpose  of  each  local  authority  so  to  adjust 
its  valuation  (within  limits)  as  to  obtain  the  greatest  pos- 
sible contribution  from  the  Exchequer,  under  any  system 
which  the  Central  Government  can  devise. 

The  "real"  property  on  which  rates  are  thus  levied 
consists  of  things  visible  and  tangible  which  "can  be  touched, 
tasted,  and  handled"  by  any  visitor  to  the  city  to  whose 
welfare  the  rates  are  supposed  to  contribute.  This  defini- 
tion immediately  rules  out  all  personal  wealth  paid  in  the 
form  of  dividends  on  investments  in  companies  either  operat- 
ing in  the  town  or  beyond  it.  It  also  rules  out  the  profits 
made  by  shopkeepers,  merchants,  professional  men,  and 
others,  which  are  not  subject  to  direct  municipal  taxation, 
although  it  is  a  complaint  made  by  many  such  that  the 
assessment  is  unfair  to  them  as  compared  with  their  neigh- 
bours, owing  to  the  fact  that  they  require  special  building 
accommodation:  a  shop,  for  instance,  requiring  a  large 
amount  of  floor  space,  or  a  doctor  requiring  additional 
accommodation  for  his  dispensary.  Machinery  is  thus 
valued  and  rated  as  real  property,  although  at  a  lower 
rate  for  some  purposes  than  houses  or  buildings.  And 
agricultural  land  is  rated  at  what  is  supposed  to  be  its 


126  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

annual  value,  although  the  occupier  only  pays  half  of  the 
rate  levied  on  it,  and  the  other  half  is  paid  by  the  Govern- 
ment out  of  a  grant  from  the  taxes.  "Stock-in-trade"  is 
not  rated,  although  attempts  have  been  made  to  bring  it  in, 
in  order  to  relieve  the  rates  on  property.  And  private 
furniture  and  possessions  are  not  rated,  the  valuation  of 
any  house  being  decided  by  the  amount  it  would  be  sup- 
posed to  be  worth,  year  by  year,  when  empty,  to  a  new 
tenant,  altogether  independent  of  furniture  or  rich  posses- 
sions contained  therein.  But  empty  houses  are  not  rated 
at  all,  except  where  the  landlord  has  "compounded"  under 
conditions  which  I  shall  describe  later,  and  empty  land 
is  only  rated  on  what  is  supposed  to  be  its  annual  value, 
quite  apart  from  the  sum  it  might  sell  for  as  a  building  site. 
This  system  of  rating  is  being  subjected  to  continual 
attack.  Its  assailants  wax  sarcastic  over  a  method  which 
they  describe  as  "penalizing  improvements."  A  man  adds 
an  enlargement  to  his  factory,  or  puts  a  bathroom  in  his 
house,  and  directly  the  quinquennial  valuation  comes  round, 
the  vigilant  eye  of  the  overseer  or  assessment  committee 
notes  the  increased  value  thereby  created,  and  immediately, 
by  increasing  the  valuation,  claps  an  additional  tax  on  him. 
He  has,  indeed,  no  other  alternative  in  the  present  legal 
definitions  of  valuation  for  rateable  purposes.  This  system 
is  called  by  its  critics  "penalizing  improvements."  On  the 
other  hand,  if  a  man  spends  nothing  on  his  house  property, 
and  allows  it  steadily  to  decay,  he  will  be  able  to  appeal  to 
the  quinquennial  valuation  that  it  is  not  worth  so  much 
as  it  was  five  years  before.  And  if,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  not  worth  so  much,  its  value  will  be  reduced  in  the 
valuation  book,  and  for  the  next  five  years  he  will  pay  less 
rates.  This  has  been  called  rewarding  negligence  and 
penalizing  enterprise. 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  127 

These  facts  have  led  to  the  advocacy  of  many  different 
schemes  of  dealing  with  the  rates,  some  of  which  would 
exclude  improvements  altogether  from  increased  assess- 
ment, and  throw  the  burden  or  some  proportion  of  it  upon 
the  land  on  which  the  town  is  built.  When  it  is  obj  ected  that 
the  value  of  the  rate  might  be  more  than  the  value  of  the 
land,  they  reply  that  this  value  is  a  standard  only,  and  that 
there  is  no  reason  why  you  should  not  have  a  rate  of  twenty, 
forty,  sixty  shillings  in  the  pound.  And  this  is  now  proving 
true  with  the  present  rating  of  buildings,  etc.,  which,  in 
some  districts,  is  over  twenty  shillings  in  the  pound  today. 
This  fact  perplexes  some  observers,  who  think  that  it  is 
impossible  for  any  one  to  pay  more  than  twenty  shillings 
in  the  pound,  as  in  that  case  he  would  have  nothing  left. 
They  are  confusing  rates  with  income  tax.  You  cannot 
pay  permanently  an  income  tax  of  twenty  shillings  in  the 
pound,  because  that  would  mean  more  than  your  whole 
income.  But  you  can  pay  in  rates  to  that  whole  amount, 
or  even  higher,  because  a  rate  is  levied  on  that  part  of  your 
income  which  is  expended  on  rent  of  houses,  factories,  land, 
etc.  The  theory  which  supports  the  jpresent  system  is 
generally  that  the  value  of  the  house  occupied  is  more  or 
less  proportional  to  the  income  of  the  tenant,  and  that  the 
advantage  gained  by  increased  expenditure  on  communal 
welfare  can  be  in  part  estimated  as  being  proportional  to 
the  size  and  value  of  the  actual  property  which  the  tenant 
owns  in  the  town. 

Others,  again,  advocate  a  levy  of  rates  on  the  capital 
value,  instead  of  the  annual  value  of  land  or  property; 
and  others  advocate  a  real  municipal  income  tax ;  and  others 
ask  that  many  municipal  services  should  be  taken  over, 
and  paid  for,  by  the  Central  Government.  Or  as  England 
has  become  so  much  divided  into  cities  of  the  rich  and  cities 


128  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

of  the  poor,  some  advocate  larger  areas  of  rating,  in  order 
to  make  larger  areas  of  equality  between  one  and  the  other. 
However  these  questions  of  policy  may  be,  no  one  who  has 
examined  the  system  has  any  doubt  at  all  that  the  valuation 
as  at  present  carried  out  is  profoundly  unsatisfactory. 
Repeated  attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce  Bills  to 
put  it  on  a  sounder  basis,  either  by  improving  the  municipal 
valuation,  or  by  making  the  one  central  national  valuation, 
which  will  fix  a  uniform  standard  throughout  the  country, 
or  by  a  combination  of  both.  But  none  of  these  have 
succeeded,  partly  because  they  were  opposed  by  interests 
who  thought  they  would  be  affected  injuriously,  and  partly 
because,  whenever  the  question  was  raised  of  improving  the 
present  method  of  valuation,  the  question  was  immediately 
raised  of  changing  the  subject  of  valuation;  so  that,  im- 
mediately, a  Bill  for  improvement  of  machinery  only,  became 
a  Bill,  of  violent  political  controversy.  So  the  valuation 
for  the  rates  in  England  remains  today  local,  variable,  and 
more  defensible  as  a  survival  from  a  historic  past,  than 
as  a  just  and  efficient  basis  for  local  taxation. 

It  is  interesting  as  an  example  of  how  law-makers  some- 
times fail  to  foresee  the  results  of  their  labours,  to  note 
what  a  profound  influence  on  municipal  development  has 
been  produced  by  the  introduction  of  an  almost  casual  clause 
in  a  Bill  designed  to  save  the  ratepayers'  money.  This  is 
the  clause  which  allows  what  is  called  the  "compounding" 
system.1 

It   was    felt   ridiculous   that,  in  the   collection   of   rates 

i  The  clause  was  first  introduced  in  the  Poor  Rate  Assessment 
and  Collection  Act,  1869,  Section  4.  As  the  other  rates,  as  they 
grew  up,  were  all  based  on  the  poor  rate  assessment  and  collection, 
it  came  to  apply  to  them  also,  and  by  the  Municipal  Corporations 
Act  of  1882,  Section  147,  it  was  definitely  embodied  in  the  law  deal- 
ing with  the  borough  rate. 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  129 

among  poor  tenements  and  cottages,  the  town  councils  should 
spend  large  sums  in  employing  rate  collectors,  calling  from 
house  to  house,  and  scraping  up  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
the  pennies  or  shillings  required,  with  the  certainty  of 
enormous  numbers  of  deficits  among  the  very  poor,  who 
would  never  save  up  the  money  to  pay  the  half  year's  bill, 
and  consequently  of  expensive  and  unpopular  prosecutions. 
The  happy  expedient  was  therefore  devised  of  allowing  the 
owner  to  "compound"  the  rates  of  such  cottage  and  tene- 
ment property  by  paying  them  himself  instead  of  the 
tenant  paying.  In  return  for  doing  this,  he  received  a 
deduction  of  15  per  cent,  on  the  rateable  value  of  such 
property,  which  was  supposed  to  cover  his  expenses  of 
collecting  the  rate  from  the  tenant,  and  a  further  deduc- 
tion of  15  per  cent,  if  he  paid  the  rates  for  a  whole  year 
on  such  property.  The  theory  of  the  system  was  admirable. 
As  the  landlord  has  to  collect  weekly  rent,  it  was  assumed 
that  his  machinery  could  be  used  to  collect  rates  weekly 
from  the  same  tenants ;  and  as  in  such  a  weekly  tenant 
system,  occupiers  passed  in  and  out  with  perhaps  weekly 
or  fortnightly  intervals,  it  was  evidently  better  not  to  make 
an  attempt  to  estimate  how  much  of  each  half  year  was 
actually  occupied,  or  by  which  transitory  tenant,  and  to 
allow  the  landlord  to  obtain  some  fixed  rebate  in  return 
for  the  assumption  that  this  cottage  property  was  occupied 
all  the  time. 

But  in  practice  this  clause  has  produced  results  so 
momentous  in  character  as  to  have  had  probably  the 
greatest  effect  of  any  legislative  effort  upon  the  development 
of  the  civic  activities  of  England.  For,  in  practice,  the 
landlord  does  not  collect  his  rent  and  the  rates.  The  cal- 
culations alone  of  variable  rates,  broken  up  into  weekly 
portions,  would  be  an  expensive  transaction.  He  therefore 


130  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

provides  his  customers  at  "rate-free"  rents,  i.  e.,  he  lets  a 
cottage  at  five,  seven,  or  ten  shillings  a  week,  a  rent  which 
includes  the  rates.  And  the  cheerful  tenants  have  no  idea 
that  they  ever  pay  rates  at  all.  What  the  devisors  of 
this  ingenious  clause  seem  to  have  overlooked  was  that  these 
same  cheerful  tenants  are  the  electors  who  have  to  decide 
from  time  to  time  whether  they  would  like  more  money  to  be 
spent  out  of  the  rates  on  their  social  improvement  or  no. 
Law  after  law  carefully  devises  the  most  elaborate  safe- 
guards by  which  the  "burgess"  shall,  in  all  such  cases,  care- 
fully weigh  up  the  advantage  of  each  improvement  on  the 
one  hand,  against  the  cost  of  the  improvement  on  the  other. 
In  some  cases  there  must  be  a  town  meeting,  in  others  a 
poll  of  the  electors.  Every  year,  at  the  selection  of  coun- 
cillors, each  candidate  must  declare  whether  he  is  in  favour 
of  a  lavish  or  frugal  expenditure.  But  in  the  cases  where 
the  majority  of  the  electors  think  that  they  do  not  pay 
rates  at  all,  these  checks  are  manifestly  useless.  They  can 
"pack"  a  town  meeting;  they  can  carry  a  plebiscite;  they 
can  elect  the  councillors  who  promise  most  fervently  to  give 
them  something  for  nothing.  Why  should  they  not  have 
more  parks  and  playgrounds  and  museums  and  municipal 
concerts  and  swimming  baths  and  libraries  if  they  can  get 
all  this  for  nothing,  and  only  the  wealthy  pay  ? 

The  remedy  for  irresponsibility  created  by  such  a  system 
has  not  yet  been  found.  The  observer,  as  on  an  historic 
occasion,  will  only  be  astonished  at  the  moderation  of  this 
bulk  of  electors  in  not  pushing  expenditure  far  above  its 
present  levels  for  their  own  benefit.  Most  of  the  cities, 
however,  have  hitherto  confined  themselves  to  providing  not 
what  the  bulk  of  the  people  want,  but  what  they  think  the 
bulk  of  the  people  need.  And  it  is  found  difficult,  therefore, 
to  raise  enthusiasm  for,  say,  museums,  which  no  one  enters, 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  131 

or  libraries  from  which  few  of  them  borrow  books,  or  ex- 
penditure on  improving  the  lot  of  paupers,  when  they  are 
each  determined  never  to  become  one.  If  the  towns  were 
to  break  out  into  such  activities  as  municipal  cinemas, 
municipal  football  clubs,  or  free  municipal  excursions  into 
the  country,  or  any  similar  popular  evidences  of  a  civiliza- 
tion, the  enthusiasm  of  these  non-rate-paying  electors  might 
sweep  the  resistance  of  the  unhappy  ratepayers  into  an 
outlay  which  would  end  in  municipal  bankruptcy.  And, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  direct  ratepayer  of  small  income, 
the  "toad  beneath  the  harrow"  of  the  old  rhyme,  who  "knows 
exactly  where  each  spear-point  goes,"  in  most  cities  com- 
pensates for  his  numerical  inferiority  by  his  active  and 
vigilant  opposition  to  all  superfluous  municipal  expenditure, 
while  the  great  mass  of  the  others  take  little  interest  in 
public  affairs,  and  can  only  be  persuaded  with  difficulty  to 
vote  at  all. 

Attempts  to  provide  a  remedy  for  this  state  of  affairs 
seem  rather  hopeless.  It  is  suggested  that  the  landlords 
and  their  agents  should  instruct  their  tenants,  when  rent  is 
raised  on  account  of  the  rates.  But  the  weakness  of  this 
policy  is  tiiat  the  landlords  raise  their  rents  whenever 
possible,  even  when  rates  are  not  raised,  and  that  in  no 
case  would  the  tenants  believe  the  landlords'  statement  on 
the  matter.1  For  they  are  convinced  in  a  popular  belief 
of  what  many  economists  regard  as  a  profound  truth,  that 
the  landlord  sucks  out  of  them  as  much  "rent"  as  he  can, 
whether  that  "rent"  includes  rates  or  not,  and  that  he  would 
just  as  much  raise  their  rent,  if  he  thought  they  could  pay, 
if  he  had  just  married  a  wife  or  increased  his  family,  as 

i  All  this  process  has,  of  course,  been  checked  or  destroyed  by  the 
post-war  Rent  Restrictions  Acts.  But  the  arguments  apply  to  normal 
times,  when  such  restrictions  are  removed. 


132  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

he  would  on  account  of  the  fact  that  he  had  to  pay  some 
extra  sum  for  local  or  national  expenditure.  If  this  theory 
be  correct,  these  tenants  may  not  be  so  foolish  as  they 
appear  if  they  vote  for  a  lavish  expenditure  of  municipal 
improvements  under  the  belief  that  they  do  not  pay  for 
it.  They  may  rather  be  acting  in  conformity  with  the 
wisdom  of  sagacious  political  economists,  who,  in  their 
definition  of  such  rent  as  the  surplus  which  is  left  after  the 
means  of  subsistence  have  been  provided,  recognize  that 
an  increase  of  rate  can  be  thrown  on  that  economic  rent 
to  almost  an  unlimited  degree,  until  the  failure  to  provide 
interest  on  capital  expended  stops  the  building  of  such 
tenement  property  at  all.  I  do  not  wish  here  to  take  sides 
in  such  a  controversy.  I  merely  wish  here  to  indicate  that 
such  a  controversy  exists.  But  of  the  outward  fact  of 
such  compounding,  there  is  no  doubt  at  all.  It  has  been 
a  very  appreciable  factor  in  the  enormous  increase  both  of 
borrowing  and  spending,  for  better  or  worse,  in  the  local 
government  of  England.1 

Such,  then,  is  the  valuation  upon  which  the  rates  are 
based.  The  figure  of  such  valuation  remains  unchanged 
for  a  term  of  years,  and  upon  this  figure  the  proportion 
which  the  individual  occupier  pays  is  settled.  But  the 
total  amount  necessary  for  the  municipal  revenue  varies  from 
year  to  year,  and  therefore  he  will  find  demanded  of  him  a 
continually  altering  amount  of  so  many  shillings,  and  so 
many  pence  in  the  pound. 

Rates    are   varying   in    nature.     There   is    a    poor    rate 

i  It  has  been  said  of  one  working-class  city  that  the  freeholds  in 
the  greater  part  of  the  town  are  all  owned  by  one  man,  while  the 
electors  are  all  working-class  tenants.  These  tenants  annually  vote 
large  and  expensive  improvements  to  the  town,  in  the  comfortable 
security  that  this  gentleman  and  not  they  will  have  to  pay  for  them, 
and  to  his  increasing  exasperation. 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  133 

assessed  by  the  Guardians,  a  body  completely  independent 
of  the  Town  Council,  for  the  service  of  the  poor  law.  There 
are  various  rates  laid  on  the  town  by  the  Council  itself, 
some  for  general  and  some  for  special  purposes.  There  may 
even  be  in  the  case  of  some  smaller  towns  a  county  rate 
laid  upon  the  population  of  the  town  for  some  general 
purpose  controlled  by  the  council  of  the  county  in  which 
the  town  is  situated.  The  town  itself  will  have  a  borough 
rate,  and  probably  a  district  rate,  as  well  as,  perhaps,  a 
library  rate,  or  other  rate  levied  for  some  special  purpose 
which  the  town  has  either  adopted  from  an  Act,  or  obtained 
a  special  Act  to  provide.  The  expense  and  nuisance  and 
irritation  caused  by  such  varied  imposts,  have  tended 
towards  consolidation,  in  which  "the  rates"  are  all  included 
in  one  half-yearly  demand.  And  when  the  statement  is 
made  that  "the  rates"  in  one  town  are  twelve  shillings,  in 
another  twenty  shillings  in  the  pound,  it  is  this  collective 
demand  which  is  referred  to.  Many  local  authorities,  indeed, 
in  their  printed  requests  for  payment,  furnish  the  rate- 
payer with  an  analysis  of  the  total  amount,  showing  so 
much  of  this  twelve  or  twenty  shillings  to  be  required  by 
education,  so  much  by  the  Guardians  for  poor  law  purposes, 
so  much  as  a  library  rate,  and  so  on.  The  ratepayer  is 
thus  informed  of  the  various  burdens  laid  upon  him,  although 
not  specially  cheered  by  the  knowledge.  The  ratepayer 
whose  rates  are  compounded  by  his  landlord  receives  no 
information  at  all. 

How  is  the  amount  arrived  at?  It  is  a  fundamental 
principle  of  municipal  finance  that  each  year  or  half  year 
shall  pay  its  own  way;  and  that  the  ratepayers  of  any 
such  particular  period  shall  pay  for  the  expenses  of  munici- 
pal government  for  that  period  only,  and  not  be  troubled 
by  having  to  pay  for  deficits  in  the  past,  or  made  happy 


134.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

by  the  throwing  of  the  burden  of  their  expenses  to  the 
future.  This  principle  does  not  indeed  prevent  the  town 
councils  from  borrowing  money.  They  have  borrowed 
money  in  enormous  quantities,  both  with  the  aid  of  the 
Government  Treasury,  and  independent  of  it.  But  this 
borrowed  money  has  always  had  to  be  spent  in  some  special 
capital  enterprise  of  a  lasting  nature,  either  by  the  authority 
of  a  local  Act  passed  through  Parliament,  or  under  some 
general  power  of  a  municipal  Bill  with  the  sanction  and 
approval  of  the  Local  Government  Board  (now  the  Ministry 
of  Health).  Money  has  thus  been  borrowed  for  general 
sewage  works,  for  the  making  of  a  water  supply,  or  a  gas 
or  electric  light  supply,  for  the  building  of  a  town  hall, 
for  the  clearing  of  slums,  or  the  building  of  houses  to  be 
let  to  the  working  classes.  It  is  quite  evident  that  the 
expense  of  such  enterprises  as  these,  which  may  last  fifty 
or  a  hundred  years,  could  not  possibly  be  thrown  on  the 
rates  of  the  particular  year  in  which  they  were  constructed, 
a  proceeding  which  would  make  the  ratepayers  of  that  year 
half  bankrupt.  Borrowing  for  these  permanent  works  is, 
therefore,  permitted,  but  only  under  two  conditions.  The 
first  is  that  interest  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  current  revenue, 
that  is  the  yearly  rates,  upon  the  money  thus  borrowed, 
which  interest  is  guaranteed  to  the  lenders  of  the  money 
upon  the  security  of  the  whole  property  of  the  town.  So 
that  if  the  rates  fail  to  provide  the  money,  these  investors 
could  come  in  and  seize  the  whole  property  of  the  town, 
and  sell  it,  in  order  to  get  back  their  capital  and  interest. 
And  the  second  is  that,  in  addition  to  the  interest  on  the 
loan,  the  ratepayers  shall  pay  every  year  a  certain  amount 
of  money  into  what  is  called  a  sinking  fund,  which  merely 
means  the  setting  aside  of  this  sum  to  repay  part  of  the 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  135 

capital  of  the  loan  itself.  The  amount  thus  set  aside  for 
a  sinking  fund  varies  with  the  nature  of  the  property  which 
has  been  created  by  the  original  borrowed  money.  The 
general  theory  is  that  the  total  debt  shall  be  paid  back 
within  the  life  of  active  working  and  usefulness  of  the 
property  itself;  in  other  words,  that  the  generation  which 
enjoys  the  advantage  provided  by  that  property  shall  itself 
pay  back  the  cost  of  that  property,  and  not  leave  a  later 
age  debts  incurred  by  it  for  things  which  have  actually  been 
used  up,  and  become  useless.  Thus  a  municipal  gas  supply 
will  have  a  sinking  fund  of  a  certain  number  of  years,  and 
when,  through  the  operations  of  that  sinking  fund,  the 
original  debt  is  all  paid  off,  what  is  then  left  of  that  gas 
supply  is,  as  it  were,  a  free  property  of  the  whole  town, 
a  gift  from  the  past  to  the  future.  Towns  are  allowed  to 
build  houses  with  conditions  of  repayment  of  capital  ex- 
penses within  a  comparatively  short  term  of  years,  by  means 
of  a  sinking  fund,  and  to  buy  land  to  build  these  houses 
on  at  a  longer  period  of  repayment;  the  theory  being  that 
while  after  some  time  the  houses  will  be  worn  out,  the  land 
will  never  be  worn  out.  It  is  evident  that  if  you  have  to 
pay  back,  say  a  thousand  pounds  by  a  series  of  annual 
payments  in  thirty  years  time,  these  annual  payments  will 
be  very  much  more  than  if  you  can  spread  them  over  sixty 
or  eighty  years.  And  as  a  lessening  of  these  payments 
means  less  rates  laid  on  present  citizens,  there  is  always 
a  tendency  among  the  councils  themselves  to  spread  out 
the  term  for  as  long  as  possible,  in  accordance  with  the 
general  principle — what  has  posterity  done  for  us,  that  we 
should  do  so  much  for  posterity?  And  this  tendency  is 
always  being  checked  by  the  Central  Authority  and  Parlia- 
ment, who  are  supposed  to  represent  the  interests  of  a  State 


136  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

whose  life  is  immortal,  and  to  ensure  that  the  enjoyments 
of  the  present  citizens  shall  not  inflict  unfair  burdens  upon 
generations  as  yet  unborn. 

Apart  from  these  loans  or  borrowings  for  these  special 
purposes,  the  rule  is  rigorous  that  a  town  council  must 
pay  its  own  way  year  by  year,  and  as  far  as  is  possible 
make  its  annual  expenditure  and  income  exactly  balance. 
It  may  borrow  money  for  buying  and  constructing  a  park 
or  its  own  city  offices.  But  it  may  not  borrow  money  for 
the  upkeep  of  the  park,  or  for  the  payment  of  the  salary 
of  the  officials  in  those  city  offices.  All  such  expenses  come 
into  the  yearly  or  half-yearly  budget.  This  budget  is 
presented  to  the  finance  committee  of  the  council  by  the 
officials  who  are  responsible  for  the  various  forms  of  ex- 
penditure. So  much  is  wanted  by  the  watch  committee 
for  the  police,  so  much  for  paving  and  lighting  and  cleansing 
the  streets  by  the  committee  charged  with  this  work.  So 
much  is  the  grant  given  to  the  Mayor  for  the  payment  of 
municipal  servants,  a  Recorder,  a  Stipendiary  Magistrate, 
a  Treasurer,  a  Town  Clerk,  and  so  on.  So  much  again 
will  be  required  for  the  payment  of  interest  and  sinking 
fund  on  former  capital  expenditure.  All  these  as  estimates 
for  what  will  be  required  for  the  coming  year  or  half-year 
are  gathered  together  and  as  a  rule  sanctioned  by  the 
council.  Then  the  amount  required  in  each  case,  divided 
by  the  total  rateable  value  of  the  property  in  the  borough, 
will  give  the  amount  per  £  which  will  be  required  by  the 
owners  of  that  property  for  the  particular  year  or  half- 
year.  That  amount  is  then  levied  on  these  occupiers,  and 
becomes  the  legal  rate  from  which  they  cannot  escape, 
and  failure  to  pay  which  can  be  visited  with  fine  or  im- 
prisonment. A  series  of  collectors  are  appointed  who  worry 
the  burgesses  by  correspondence  or  personal  visit  until 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  137 

they  have  got  the  paid  amount  due  to  the  town  from  the 
citizens. 

In  a  brilliant  political  play,  in  a  discussion  of  a  Parlia- 
mentary intrigue,  the  question  is  asked  but  not  answered, 
why  the  voice  of  the  ratepayer  is  always  so  vocal,  and  the 
voice  of  the  taxpayer  always  so  silent?  In  other  words, 
why  it  always  seems  the  easier  course  when  some  new  ex- 
penditure on  social  improvement  is  demanded,  to  make  the 
national  exchequer  pay,  rather  than  to  "put  it  on  the  rates  ?" 
It  is  difficult  to  give  a  simple  explanation  for  this  undoubted 
fact,  more  especially  as  such  a  large  proportion  of  the 
population  are  not  conscious  of  paying  rates  at  all.  In 
answer  to  this  point,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  this  same 
proportion  of  the  population  is  barely,  if  at  all,  conscious 
that  it  pays  the  taxes  at  all,  and  that  in  any  case  its 
opinion  is  regarded  as  negligible  by  most  politicians,  parlia- 
mentary or  municipal,  except  in  the  months  which  im- 
mediately precede  parliamentary  elections.  But  undoubtedly 
the  main  fact  is  true.  The  rate  collector  is  a  thousand 
times  more  unpopular  than  the  tax  collector.  And  yet 
all  the  instinct  should  be  quite  opposite.  For  the  citizen 
can  see  and  enjoy  the  result  of  his  local  expenditure  in  clean 
roads  and  streets,  well  paved  and  lighted,  in  efficient  sanita- 
tion and  water  supply,  in  picturesque  parks  in  which  he  can 
walk  abroad  in  daylight,  or  the  volumes  of  learning  or 
amusement  with  which  he  can  occupy  his  leisure  after  dark- 
ness has  fallen.  Whereas  rarely,  if  ever,  can  he  point  to 
any  direct  increase  in  happiness  or  comfort  given  to  him 
in  the  money  he  is  compelled  to  pay  to  the  Central  Govern- 
ment of  his  country. 

The  explanation  of  this  unnatural  estimate  of  values 
is  probably  a  complex  one.  One  reason  may  be  that  for 
the  bulk  of  the  citizens,  before  the  burdens  laid  upon  them 


138  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

by  the  Great  War,  much  of  the  taxation  levied  on  them, 
was  so  wrapt  up  and  concealed,  that  they  were  scarcely1 
conscious  what  they  paid,  or  that  they  paid  at  all.  It 
was  largely  disguised  in  the  varying  prices  of  such  com- 
modities, tobacco,  beer,  tea,  sugar,  whisky,  and  the  like, 
as  to  be  almost  indistinguishable  from  variations  caused 
in  the  world  market  for  these  goods,  or  the  amount  of  profit 
by  brewer,  grocer,  or  publican.  And  even  in  the  case  of  a 
direct  impost  laid  upon  him  in  an  income  tax,  which  corre- 
sponded, in  form  at  least,  in  actual  extortion  of  hard 
cash  in  a  demand  note  to  the  municipal  rate,  the  amount 
before  the  war  for  the  bulk  of  the  middle  classes,  with  its 
numerous  abatements  for  small  incomes,  was  much  less  for- 
midable than  that  demanded  for  municipal  expenses.  And 
the  amount  since  the  war  is  rendered  less  intolerable  by  the 
belief  that  it  is  being  part  of  the  price  paid  for  the  smashing 
defeat  of  Germany,  and  the  establishment  of  British  su- 
premacy in  the  world. 

Again,  the  taxes  are  paid  to  a  Government  of  the  whole 
country  which,  despite  the  bitter  attacks  upon  it  at  any 
moment  by  its  opponents,  has  in  the  past  retained  elements 
of  almost  mythical  greatness.  A  visit  from  one  of  the 
Ministers,  whose  name  is  in  every  newspaper,  is  regarded  as 
an  event  in  a  provincial  city.  The  individuals  find  it  difficult 
to  associate  the  idea  of  inertness  or  corruption  with  such 
mysterious  and  splendid  personalities  as  Disraeli  or  Glad- 
stone, Joseph  Chamberlain  or  Mr.  Lloyd  George.  But  in 
the  case  of  local  government,  it  is  the  permanent  conviction 
\  of  a  considerable  mass  of  the  citizens  that  the  town  council 
is  both  inert  and  corrupt.  It  is  made  up  of  like  men  with 
themselves,  living  in  the  same  street,  often  of  no  conspicu- 
ously superior  talent.  Sometimes  it  includes  men  who, 
having  failed  in  the  work  of  business  and  money-making, 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  139 

have  leisure  for  local  politics,  and  who,  getting  into  what  are 
called  the  Party  machines,  are  selected  by  these  machines 
as  candidates  for  office.  "Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son ; 
and  his  brethren,  are  they  not  among  us?"  is  a  sentiment 
of  human  nature  not  in  the  least  limited  to  the  contempor- 
aries of  the  founders  of  world  religions.  And  to  great  bodies 
of  decent  citizens,  working  hard  for  a  decent  standard  of 
life  for  themselves  and  their  children,  who  take  no  interest 
in  municipal  government,  and  can  scarcely  be  persuaded 
to  vote  at  elections,  the  subject  of  the  rates  and  the  expen- 
diture for  which  these  rates  supply  money,  and  the  men  who 
are  causing  that  expenditure,  are  subjects  of  bitter  humour 
and  bitter  scorn. 

In  many  respects  these  humours  and  scorns  are  un- 
justified. Actual  corruption  is  rare  in  local  government — • 
certainly,  infinitely  less  than  in  the  days  when  the  power 
was  in  the  hands  of  a  limited  number  of  the  wealthy  and 
landed  classes.  Today,  when  present,  it  rarely  extends  much 
beyond  a  tendency  to  favour  the  appointment  of  members 
of  your  own  Party,  or  the  friends  of  your  own  friends.  And 
the  occasional  scandals  which  are  revealed  in  connexion 
with  the  allocations  of  contracts,  or  the  appointment  of 
officials,  serve  in  the  main  to  show  that  publicity,  a  revised 
standard  of  public  honour,  and  the  weapon  that  such  a 
revised  standard  provides  in  the  vigilant  watch  of  opponents, 
who  know  how  one  fall  can  be  made  fatal  to  their  adversary, 
sufficiently  demonstrate  that  these  practices,  as  well  as  their 
exposures,  are  but  occasional.  So  far  as  inertia  or  in- 
efficiency is  concerned,  the  actual  administration  of  the  great 
enterprises  undertaken  is  so  completely  maintained  by  an 
exceedingly  efficient  municipal  civil  service  of  permanent 
officials,  that  the  slackness  or  incompetence  of  the  com- 
mittees of  the  council  which  are  entrusted  with  the  work 


140  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

of  supervision,  have  very  little  effect  upon  success  or  failure. 
If  a  company  has  an  efficient  managing  director,  and  a 
really  competent  staff  working  under  him,  the  fact  that 
his  board  consists  largely  of  dummies,  partly  of  incom- 
petents, or  partly  of  half-witted,  is  little  substantial  handi- 
cap to  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  And  although  a 
majority  of  the  town  councils  are  not  incompetent,  and  only 
a  small  proportion  half-witted,  it  is  manifest  that  the  success 
of  such  a  great  business  enterprise  as  a  municipal  tramway 
system,  or  a  municipal  electric  light  and  power  supply,  must 
depend  to  an  overwhelming  degree  upon  the  men  selected 
for  the  daily  work  of  maintenance,  and  only  to  a  very 
minor  extent  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  non-expert  men 
and  women  who  meet  for  a  few  hours  a  month  only,  in  lives 
engaged  mainly  in  other  interests,  to  listen  or  to  approve 
or  to  criticize  such  reports  as  these  officials  lay  before  them. 
The  sentiment  will,  however,  remain  until  the  majority 
of  the  citizens  take  an  active  interest  in  the  life  of  their 
city ;  and  pride  in  the  development  of  their  city ;  and  a 
determination  that  the  most  active  and  efficient  men  and 
women  shall  be  persuaded  to  give  to  that  city  disinterested 
service  in  the  honourable  call  to  public  affairs. 


CHAPTER     VIII 
HOW     LONDON     IS     GOVERNED 

I  have  described  in  detail  the  powers,  methods  of  election, 
and  working  of  town  councils  as  distinct  from  local  author- 
ities outside  the  towns,  and  I  have  done  this  for  two  reasons : 
first,  because  they  form  the  unit  of  local  government  under 
which  the  maj  ority  of  the  people  carry  on  their  business  and 
pleasure;  and  second,  because  the  other  local  authorities 
have  been  built  up  on  the  model,  which  has  been  provided 
by  the  Government,  of  the  cities,  with  only  minor  variations 
to  adjust  the  city  systems  to  non-urban  areas. 

It  has  been  calculated  that  four-fifths  of  the  people  live 
in  these  urban  areas,  either  within  the  boundaries  of  a  town, 
or  in  the  crowded  town  districts  which  lie  just  outside  the 
boundaries,  and  have  not  yet  been  absorbed  within  them, 
or  have  minor  local  authorities  carrying  on  a  kind  of  imita- 
tion of  town  municipal  life. 

In  the  No-man's-land  outside  there  is  considerable  com- 
plication and  confusion.  County  Councils  have  certain 
powers  over  the  whole  area  of  a  county.  Within  this 
jurisdiction,  and  for  the  most  part  independent  of  it,  urban 
district  councils  in  the  urbanized  portions,  and  rural  district 
councils  in  the  countrified  areas,  exercise  much  of  the  power, 
and  carry  out  many  of  the  duties  of  a  city  municipality. 
Many  of  these  smaller  municipalities  themselves  are  in  part 
under  the  control  of  the  County  Council  for  certain  pur- 
poses, and  deprived  of  the  complete  freedom  enjoyed  by 

141 


142  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

the  larger  boroughs.  Special  arrangements  are  provided 
for  dealing  with  the  very  small  and  the  very  big.  At  the 
one  end,  each  tiny  wayside  hamlet  was  endowed  with  a  Parish 
Council  or  a  Parish  Meeting,  at  which  groups  of  a  few 
score  labourers  were  given  certain  very  limited  public  powers, 
in  an  effort,  which  has  been  mainly  unsuccessful,  to  revise 
the  ancient  parish  communal  life  of  "Merrie  England." 
And  at  the  other  end,  a  London  whose  growth  has  exceeded 
all  rational  and  desirable  dimensions,  sprawling  over  six 
counties  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  has  swept  away  by 
the  mere  solid  magnitude  of  its  impetuous  increase,  all 
efforts  to  make  out  of  it  a  rational,  self-conscious  unity, 
with  local  interest,  public  spirit,  and  pride;  presenting  a 
problem  before  which  the  theoretical  reformer  is  perplexed, 
and  the  practical  statesman  dismayed. 

Here  is  a  problem  arising  from  the  fact  that  too  much 
population  has  broken  down  all  the  system  and  standard 
which,  on  the  whole,  works  fairly  well  in  cities  of  reasonable 
dimensions.  "England  will  shortly  become  London,  and 
London  England,"  is  the  pathetic  cry  from  the  days  of 
James  I,  when  Westminster  was  not  much  more  than  a 
rural  village,  and  the  hills  of  the  north  and  south,  and  the 
marshes  of  the  east,  still  unoccupied.  Today,  you  may 
journey  from  Westminster  in  any  direction — north,  south, 
east,  west — literally  through  miles  of  shabby,  clay-built 
two-story  cottages,  without  ever  coming  to  the  limits  of 
"Greater  London."  Most  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  gigantic 
labyrinth  of  human  habitations  have  never  seen  the  place 
where  the  town  gives  way  to  the  country-side,  at  the  limits 
of  the  region  in  which  all  their  lives  are  confined.  When 
they  visit  this  country  outside,  they  go  packed  in  trains 
swung  on  high  embankments,  or  struggling  through  tunnels 
and  deep  cuttings,  in  which  they  suddenly  find  themselves 


HOW  LONDON  IS  GOVERNED      143 

in  a  different  universe  from  that  they  have  ever  known. 
Every  year,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  expanding  city,  before 
the  war  stopped  building,  there  was  plastered  on  this 
gigantic  hive  another  layer  of  packed  cells,  occupied  as  soon 
as  built,  by  immigrants  from  all  the  British  Isles,  sucked 
up  into  what  Cobbett  called  "the  Great  Wen."  And  among 
these  layers,  remote  from  the  heart  of  the  gigantic  aggrega- 
tion, the  circulation  of  whose  systole  and  diastole  but  faintly 
moved  the  circulation  in  these  remote  regions,  conglomera- 
tions of  mean  streets  took  upon  themselves  quaint  and  ran- 
dom titles,  and  commenced  feebly  to  function  in  municipal 
life.  So  that  men  without  any  knowledge  of  it,  and  who 
thought  they  lived  in  "London,"  found  themselves  members 
of  a  kind  of  lesser  township  outside  London  which  called 
itself  East  Ham,  or  Hendon,  or  Tottenham,  or  Richmond. 
The  local  patriotism  and  pride  of  London  itself  is  of  an  ex-' 
traordinary  low  vitality,  and  in  no  degree  comparable  with 
the  enthusiasm  for  their  own  city  exhibited  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  such  places  as  Manchester,  Leeds,  Newcastle,  Shef- 
field, or  Birmingham.  But  when  that  civic  pride  was 
further  diluted  by  the  fact  that  men  who  spent  most  of  their 
life  in  London,  and  whose  homes  were  little  more  than  dormi- 
tories, found  these  dormitories  organized  into  municipal 
districts  and  municipal  cities  which  were  not  even  in  London! 
or  part  of  London,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  showed 
neither  enthusiasm  nor  concern  in  such  development.  The 
interest  in  municipal  life,  among  these  crowded  and  newly- 
created  suburbs,  is  distinguished  by  an  apathy  and  indif- 
ference far  beyond  that  of  the  provincial  and  historic  towns. 
One  great  attempt  was  made  some  thirty  years  ago  to 
make  a  united  and  reputable  authority  which  would  stand 
before  the  world  as  representing  London.  This  was  by  the 
creation  of  the  London  County  Council.  The  new  body 


144  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

covered  the  area  and  exercised  authority  over  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  the  London  aggregate.  Notable  and 
distinguished  men  in  politics,  literature,  science,  and  practi- 
cal affairs  were  persuaded  to  take  part  in  its  work.  Its  de- 
liberations were  reported  in  the  popular  newspapers.  Its 
triennial  elections  created  enthusiasm  and  controversy.  For 
some  years  there  seemed  a  likelihood  of  London  developing 
a  self-conscious  and  efficient  municipal  life,  similar  to  that 
maintained  by  the  great  provincial  cities.  Those  hopes 
and  interests  have,  however,  largely  died  away.  Its  death 
is  partly  due  to  the  return  of  apathy  in  face  of  such  ag- 
gregations, which  seem  unable  to  entertain  the  idea  of  any 
particular  local  patriotism  in  so  crowded  and  stifled  a  uni- 
verse. But  it  is  partly  due  to  the  limitations  placed  from 
the  start  upon  the  London  County  Council. 

On  the  one  hand,  at  the  heart  of  it,  there  remained  a 
separate  organization,  the  City  of  London,  still  maintain- 
ing some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  old  unreformed  bor- 
oughs, with  ancient  customs,  great  wealth,  and  historic  pres- 
tige, independent  and  defiant  of  the  democratic  constitu- 
tion, which  had  been  imposed  upon  all  other  English  bor- 
oughs. With  its  own  police,  its  own  jurisdiction  over  a  tiny 
square  of  the  great  chessboard  of  the  metropolis,  its  ancient 
ceremonies  and  feastings,  its  Lord  Mayor's  Show,  its  city 
banquets,  it  represented  an  isolated  and  hostile  element, 
independent  and  a  little  contemptuous  of  the  authority 
which  ruled  over  the  surrounding  area.  And  the  result  is 
that  the  whole  apparatus  of  London  government  appears 
like  a  pyramid  whose  top  has  been  sharply  sliced  off,  or  has 
never  been  completed.  And  "London"  remains  the  only 
great  city  in  the  world  which  has  neither  a  Mayor  nor  a 
Lord  Mayor  of  its  own.  In  all  civic  ceremony,  in  the  en- 
tertainment of  royalty  or  foreign  potentates,  in  times  of 


HOW  LONDON  IS  GOVERNED  14«5 

the  expression  of  the  popular  will  or  a  national  appeal,  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  London,  with  his  aldermen  and  common 
council,  in  the  historic  Guildhall,  completely  eclipse,  and  \ 
almost,  indeed,  entirely  obscure  the  Chairman  members  of 
the  "London  County  Council"  in  the  squalid  litter  of  their 
officers  in  private  houses ;  who  merely  carry  on  the  apparatus 
of  municipal  civilization  amid  four  and  a  half  millions  of  a 
rather  drab,  and  mainly  indifferent,  civilization. 

The  second  disability  from  which  the  London  County 
Council  suffers  is  due  to  the  profound  mistake  which  was 
made  when  its  area  was  so  limited  at  its  creation.  With 
an  adequate  estimate  of  how  this  aggregate  of  population 
was  going  to  develop,  its  boundaries  were  drawn  round  a 
district  containing  (now)  some  four  and  a  half  millions  of 
people,  leaving  outside  only  comparatively  unimportant 
suburbs.  But  these  suburbs  have  grown  to  at  least  another 
three  millions,  forming  great  cities  as  big  as  the  historic 
towns  of  the  north  or  midlands,  although  their  light  is  hid- 
den by  the  fact  that  they  are  merely  subordinate  to,  and 
parasitic  upon,  London. 

The  result  is  that  the  London  area  today,  which  is  con- 
trolled by  this  central  municipality,  is  a  piece  of  land  al- 
most entirely  surrounded  by  towns,  with  every  kind  of  chok- 
ing and  cramping  disability  that  such  surroundings  must 
give.  It  can  establish  no  considerable  development  of 
houses  for  its  working  people,  as  other  cities  can,  within 
its  borders,  because  its  own  land  is  nearly  all  built  upon. 
Its  trams  have  to  cease,  quite  artificially,  at  a  spot  in  vari- 
ous unbroken  rows  of  houses  which  are  not  natural  boun- 
daries at  all.  Its  water  supply  is  provided  by  a  most  com- 
plicated body,  mingling  together  its  own  representatives 
with  the  districts  and  towns  outside  it.  It  cannot  provide 
the  wide  stretches  of  park  and  open  space,  as  has  been  done 


146  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

by  so  many  growing  cities  of  the  Continent,  all  round  the 
borders  of  its  intolerable  multiplication  of  houses,  because 
these  borders  are  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  small,  divided, 
and  fiercely  jealous  district  authorities  outside,  whose  in- 
terest it  is  to  increase  rateable  value  by  covering  unoccupied 
land  with  houses  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  who  see  no  rea- 
son why  they  should  spend  money  in  providing  open  space 
for  any  but  their  own  limited  population.  The  huge  docks 
of  London  on  which  its  prosperity  mainly  depends  are,  in 
the  main,  outside  its  boundaries,  and  entirely  outside  its 
jurisdiction,  run  by  a  most  complex  Port  of  London  Author- 
ity, on  which  it  has  only  the  power  of  nominating  a  small 
minority  of  members.  Nor  has  it  any  real  effective  power, 
except  by  elaborate  negotiations  and  appeasements  of  jeal- 
ous and  hostile  councils  which  everywhere  surround  it,  of 
driving  through  great,  broad,  arterial  roads  out  from  the 
centre  to  the  country-side,  the  absence  of  which  is  render- 
ing almost  desperate  the  traffic  and  locomotion  problems  of 
London.  Everywhere  there  exist  anomalies  and  confusions. 
The  London  postal  area  is  quite  different  from  the  London 
County  Council  area,  and  the  London  police  area  flings  its 
activities  far  out  into  the  rural  neighbourhood,  and  into 
regions  which  appear  to  be  universes  away  from  the  great 
smoky  centre  and  heart  of  the  Empire.  If,  on  its  creation, 
the  boundaries  of  the  London  County  Council  had  been 
flung  back  another  ten  or  fifteen  miles  in  every  direction 
from  Charing  Cross,  one  can  conceive  of  the  possibility  of 
such  a  splendid  development  of  municipal  life  in  the  great- 
est aggregate  centre  of  population  in  the  world,  as  might 
have  built  up  a  city  for  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  future 
times. 

Within  the  County  Council  area  there  was   constructed 
by    a    special    Act    of    Parliament    twenty-eight    London 


HOW  LONDON  IS  GOVERNED      147 

Borough  Councils.  They  exercise  powers  in  some  degree 
similar  to  those  boroughs  outside  the  metropolis,  but  powers 
in  part  curtailed  by  the  existence  of  the  London  County 
Council  itself.  They  are  directly  elected  in  elections  held 
at  a  different  date  from  those  held  by  the  London  County 
Council.  They  are  neither  nominated  by  the  County  Coun- 
cil, nor  can  they  nominate  members  to  that  body.  And  as 
they  are  engaged  in  overlapping  work,  they  are  in  a  state  f 
of  more  or  less  continuous  friction  with  the  Council,  and 
there  is  little  love  lost  between  them  and  the  Council.  Each 
can  claim  to  have  the  authority  behind  it  of  direct  popu- 
larly elected  representation,  and  each  can  therefore  assert 
its  authority  against  the  other,  although,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  miserable  percentage  of  citizens  which  can  be 
stimulated  into  voting  for  County  Council  candidates  is 
never,  as  a  rule,  even  halved  by  the  still  more  miserable  per- 
centage that  unwillingly  shambles  to  the  poll  in  the  election 
of  a  London  Borough  Council. 

Both  in  numbers  and  in  interest  these  London  borough 
councils  form  a  kind  of  nadir  of  British  municipal  life.     At- 
tempts were  made  to  endow  them  with  some  resemblance  to 
the  old  municipal  life  of  the  cities  of  England,  and  each  was 
even  given  a  Mayor,  which  the  London  County  Council  it- 
self was   denied.     But  the  whole  thing  has  proved  but   a  "! 
caricature  of  civic  development.     They  could  neither  draw  - 
upon  the  enterprise  and  local  patriotism  of  some  great  new 
manufacturing  town,  nor  upon  the  picturesque  and  dignified 
tradition  of  those  little  boroughs  whose  civic  life  extends  in 
unbroken  tradition  through  hundreds  of  years.     From  the 
first,  they  were  not  more  despised  by  others  than  they  de- 
spised themselves.     Few  men  of  energy,  intelligence,  or  ambi-  ' 
tion  in  these  gigantic  labour  cities  were  willing  to  give  them-  1 
selves  up  to  work  which  earned  no  honour,  was  performed 


148  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

without  observation,  and  gave  little  scope  for  talent  and 
zeal  for  reform.  The  personnel  sank  back  into  occupation 
by  minor  members  of  the  political  caucuses,  Tory,  Liberal, 
or  Labour;  many  of  whom  laboured  hard  in  a  work  handi- 
capped from  the  beginning  by  the  fact  that  no  one  cared 
whether  it  was  done  ill  or  well,  that  no  newspapers  of  any 
importance  gave  any  publicity  to  their  doings,  and  that 
the  greater  of  the  population  in  whose  service  they  were 
labouring  had  not  only  never  heard  of  their  names,  took  not 
the  remotest  interest  in  their  activities,  and  were  not  even 
conscious  under  which  borough  council  they  were  living,  or 
whether,  indeed,  any  borough  council  existed  at  all.  The 
attempt  to  excite  some  civic  interest  among  this  bewildered 
and  apathetic  population  has  been  an  attempt  not  entirely 
unheroic  and  a  little  pitiful.  There  has  been  no  suggestion 
of  corruption,  and  the  councillors,  who  are  elected  by  a 
tiny  percentage  of  the  population,  are  probably  as  vigilant 
for,  and  as  desirous  of  the  public  good  as  men  engaged  in 
similar  work  outside  the  night  and  darkness  of  this  un- 
imaginable city.  But  the  general  impression  is  drab,  per- 
haps, because  the  general  impression  is  drab  of  the  Labour 
cities  which  these  control — Bermondsey,  Stepney,  Poplar, 
Islington,  and  the  like.  Parliament  in  its  wisdom  thus  split 
up  the  aggregation  into  cities  of  the  rich  and  cities  of  the 
poor.  The  rich  are  too  much  interested  in  the  life  of 
London  Society  and  the  apparatus  of  National  Government 
to  care  much  about  "gas  and  sewage"  problems.  And  the 
poor,  to  whom  "gas  and  sewage"  problems  are  vital,  find 
their  energies  fully  occupied  in  keeping  their  heads  above 
water,  and  obtaining  a  little  compensating  happiness  for 
the  struggle  for  existence  in  this  enormous  "city  of  laughter 
and  tears." 

The  London  County  Council  is  elected  every  three  years 


HOW  LONDON  IS  GOVERNED  U9 

in  the  early  spring.  The  London  Borough  Councils  are 
elected  every  three  years  in  the  late  autumn.  In  both 
cases  the  whole  council,  except  the  aldermen,  who  are  ap- 
pointed for  six  years,  go  out  of  office  at  the  same  time,  on 
the  Parliamentary  rather  than  the  municipal  model.  Each 
of  them  elects,  the  one  a  chairman,  the  other  a  mayor,  from 
within  or  outside  of  its  actual  membership,  who  holds  office 
(unless  re-elected)  for  one  year  only.  Between  them  they 
split  up  the  various  functions  of  a  normal  great  town  coun- 
cil, some  being  allotted  to  one,  some  to  the  other,  and  some 
to  a  kind  of  joint  consideration  of  the  two.  The  most  im- 
portant civic  function  of  all,  however,  the  maintenance  of 
law  and  order,  is  under  the  control  of  neither.  Although 
all  the  ratepayers  contribute  to  the  cost  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan Police,  the  whole  control  of  these  police  is  vested  in  the 
Central  Government  of  the  country,  directed  from  Scotland 
Yard,  and  under  the  general  control  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  for  Home  Affairs,  who  is  responsible  to  Parliament  for 
their  maintenance  and  efficiency.  The  object  of  this  differ- 
ence between  London  and  all  other  cities  is  probably  that 
the  presence  there  of  the  Court,  Parliament,  and  centre  of 
Government,  make  it  essential  that  the  force  for  the  pro- 
tection of  such  vital  entities  should  be  under  Government 
control ;  and  that  it  should  not  have  to  go,  cap  in  hand,  to 
a  municipality,  to  plead  for  essential  measures  for  its  pro- 
tection. The  result  is  a  quasi-military  body,  policing  a  huge 
stretch  of  country,  of  which  London  itself  is  a  portion,  but 
all  of  which  contributes  to  its  expenses.  It  can  be  used  by 
the  Government  of  the  day  in  any  part  of  the  country  to 
suppress  disorder,  and,  indeed,  in  the  past,  has  frequently 
been  so  used,  in  times  of  strikes  or  violence,  as  an  alternative 
to  the  importation  of  the  military. 

The   Central  Government   also   appoints   in   London  the 


150  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

paid  magistrates  who  administer  justice,  who  in  other  towns 
are  appointed  by  the  town  councils.  Again,  many  of  the 
largest  parks  of  London — Hyde  Park,  St.  James's  Park, 
Kensington  Gardens — are  also  neither  the  property  of,  nor 
maintained  by,  the  London  County  or  Borough  Councils; 
but  belong  to  the  Crown,  and  are  managed  by  the  Board  of 
Works,  by  a  Minister  responsible  to  Parliament,  out  of  sums 
granted  by  Parliament  for  their  upkeep.  So  that  the  ques- 
tion, for  example,  of  the  degree  of  clothing  demanded  of 
small  boys  bathing  in  the  Serpentine,  in  Hyde  Park,  is  set- 
tled, not  by  the  representatives  of  the  ratepayers  of  London, 
nor  even  by  the  Members  of  Parliament  for  London,  but  by 
a  Minister  of  the  Crown,  who  may  represent  a  constituency 
three  hundred  miles  from  London,  whose  decision  may  be 
challenged  in  solemn  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons,  by 
any  one  of  the  700  elected  representatives  of  the  "Imperial 
Parliament." 

Outside  these  special  limitations  and  organizations,  the 
ordinary  work  of  a  provincial  borough  is  divided  in  London 
between  these  two  authorities.  The  County  Council,  for 
example,  is  the  exclusive  authority  for  education,  and 
through  its  education  committee,  which  includes  nominated 
and  co-opted  members,  carries  on  the  training  and  mental 
equipment  of  a  gigantic  child  population.  This  results  in 
there  being  one  educational  rate  all  over  London,  covering 
alike  the  cities  of  the  rich  and  the  poor.  But  just  outside 
the  London  boundaries,  and  belonging  to  the  London  ag- 
gregation there  are  cities  of  the  rich  and  poor  independent 
of  such  unity.  So  that  at  one  "East'*  End,  by  the  docks 
and  river,  you  have  labyrinths  of  mean  streets  swarming 
with  children,  and  with  so  many  poor  that  the  rateable 
value  of  the  property  is  low,  and  therefore  you  have  a  huge 
education  rate  for  outer  London  districts  like  Tottenham 


HOW  LONDON  IS  GOVERNED      151 

and  East  and  West  Ham.  And  at  the  other  "West"  End, 
in  districts  like  Wimbledon  or  Kingston,  you  have  many 
fewer  houses  per  acre,  and  therefore  many  fewer  children 
to  educate;  and  as  at  the  same  time  every  house  is  worth 
far  more  in  value,  you  have  a  much  lower  education  rate. 
The  London  County  Council  is  the  authority  for  the 
tramways,  and  the  Borough  Councils  are  the  authorities  for 
the  roads  and  their  upkeep,  and  the  result  is  a  most  extraor- 
dinary apparatus  of  dislocation,  which  resulted  in  London 
being  far  more  imperfectly  supplied  with  tramway  locomo- 
tion than  any  similar  civilized  town  in  the  world.  At  first, 
almost  all  the  schemes  by  the  County  Council  for  tramway 
extension  were  invariably  blocked  by  the  borough  councils, 
on  the  plea  that  their  roads  were  being  disturbed,  or  not 
sufficiently  widened  and  improved;  and  even  when  these  two 
agreed,  the  private  Bills  required  for  tramway  extension  were 
almost  invariably  thrown  out  by  the  House  of  Commons 
or  the  House  of  Lords.  London  was  thus  treated  differently 
from  any  great  provincial  city,  just  because  it  was  the 
capital,  and  not  provincial.  The  City  of  London,  for  ex- 
ample, which  is  an  international  centre  of  business,  but  has 
no  residents,  resolutely  determined  that  tramways  should, 
as  far  as  possible,  be  forbidden  in  its  boundaries,  and  the 
West  End  of  London,  which  is  a  large  mass  of  parks  and 
squares,  was  horrified  by  the  vision  of  double-decked  trams, 
packed  with  shabby  citizens,  reading  halfpenny  papers, 
sweeping  perpetually  through  its  stately  avenues  and  quiet 
streets.  And  the  Houses  of  Parliament  itself  were  for  long 
outraged  at  the  thought  that  the  trams  should  come  auda- 
ciously over  Westminster  Bridge,  and  sweep  round  the  Em- 
bankment under  the  shadow  of  "Big  Ben."  The  maps  of 
some  of  the  Bills  which  have  been  promoted  year  after  year, 
or  of  the  recommendations  on  the  subject  by  Special  Com- 


152  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

missions,  compared  with  the  broken,  truncated,  and  imper- 
fect reality,  and  compared  also  with  the  maps  of  the  tram- 
way systems  of  the  great  northern  cities,  reveal  some  of 
the  price  that  the  municipal  life  of  London  has  to  pay  for 
being  the  capital  of  the  Empire. 

Again,  both  the  County  Council  and  the  Borough  Councils 
are  housing  authorities.  Both  have  certain  overlapping 
powers  to  clear  slums  and  to  build  new  houses,  and  both 
have  more  or  less  used  these  powers.  The  results  are,  per- 
haps, most  successful  when  combined  action  is  taken.  But 
such  combined  action  is  often  difficult  to  effect  because  each 
tries  to  throw  the  blame  of  the  present  and  expense  of  its 
removal  on  the  other;  and  so  years  pass  and  nothing  is 
done.  Whenever  there  is  a  prospect  of  getting  a  new  park 
established,  most  complicated  negotiations  and  appeals  have 
to  be  carried  out,  to  try  to  obtain  subscriptions  from  private 
persons,  supplemented  by  the  Borough  Council  and  the 
County  Council,  the  County  Council  trying  to  throw  the 
cost  on  the  locality  of  the  people  of  the  neighbourhood,  and 
the  Borough  Council  on  to  the  whole  population  of  London. 
In  consequence  of  this,  no  really  systematic  plan  or  policy 
exists  for  saving  great  tracts  of  essential  breathing  space 
from  the  builder,  and  Greater  London  has  been  developing 
in  the  most  squalid  and  haphazard  fashion,  in  a  manner 
altogether  unworthy  of  human  foresight  and  intelligence. 

The  County  Council  is  now  erecting  a  great  municipal 
palace  upon  the  south  side  of  the  river,  just  opposite  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,  in  which  the  sham  Classic  of  the 
twentieth  century  challenges  the  sham  Gothic  of  the  nine- 
teenth. And  this  building  will  be  occupied  by  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  laborious  officials,  carrying  out  efficiently 
and  industriously  the  perpetual  work  of  maintaining  the 
central  municipal  government  of  London.  But  it  can 


HOW  LONDON  IS  GOVERNED       153 

never  provide  anything  but  a  very  second  best  possibility 
of  municipal  development  until  Parliament  itself  has  con- 
ceived some  ideal  of  a  unified  municipal  life  of  this  amorphous 
and  swollen  labyrinth  of  people;  combining  the  greatest 
centre  of  trade  and  commerce,  the  greatest  manufacturing 
city,  the  greatest  port,  and  the  greatest  residential  district, 
with  all  the  complications  accompanying  the  greatest  centre 
of  international  business  and  the  capital  of  an  Empire 
which  sprawls  over  the  habitable  globe.  Until  that  unique 
problem  of  municipal  life  as  a  whole  is  boldly  faced  as  a 
whole,  London  Government  will  be  carried  on  in  jerry-built 
or  make-shift  fashion,  under  conditions  which  cannot  make 
for  efficiency,  and  have  no  elements  of  finality. 


CHAPTER     IX 
THE    GOVERNMENT    OF    THE    COUNTH.  Y~S  IDE 

The  work  of  the  reformers  in  local  government  in  con- 
nexion with  the  country  districts  was  to  "municipalize"  the 
local  authorities.  In  other  words,  it  was  to  apply  as  far 
as  possible  the  constitution  and  powers  of  the  new  reinvig- 
ourated  town  councils,  which  were  exhibiting  so  much  energy 
in  civic  improvement,  to  the  great  stretches  of  territory  of 
the  country-side.  The  work  was  completed  when  every 
county  had  at  least  one  County  Council  endowed  with  certain 
powers  of  overlordship  over  the  whole  of  its  allotted  region ; 
when  within  those  counties  that  region  was  further  broken 
up  into  a  network  of  rural  district  councils  where  the  popula- 
tion was  scanty,  and  urban  district  councils  where  the 
population  was  thick;  and  within  those  rural  district  coun- 
cils again  further  powers  were  established  of  communal 
action  in  the  parish  council  and  parish  meeting. 

The  county  councils  are  elected  once  every  three  years  by 
an  electorate  similar  in  the  country  to  that  for  the  boroughs 
and  the  towns.  The  election  is  held  simultaneously,  all  the 
members  retiring  at  once;  although  they  appoint,  like  the 
towns,  aldermen  with  a  longer  period  of  office.  Unlike  the 
system  in  the  towns  aldermen  may  not  vote  for  the  new 
aldermen.  The  chairman  corresponds  roughly  to  the  mayor 
of  the  town  in  actual  county  business,  although  not  in  social 
prestige,  in  which  he  is  completely  overshadowed  by  such 
officers  as  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  High  Sheriff.  As  in, 

154 


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GOVERNMENT  OF  COUNTRY-SIDE  155 

the  towns,  the  council  mainly  works  through  committees. 
And  these  committees,  largely  owing  to  the  difference  in 
size  of  the  area  dealt  with,  are  given  substantially  greater 
independence  than  in  the  boroughs.  The  council  itself  often 
does  not  meet  more  than  four  times  a  year,  which  it  is  com- 
pelled to  do  by  law,  whereas  the  town  council  has  weekly  or 
fortnightly  meetings.  Therefore  the  detailed  work  is  left 
largely  to  the  committees,  and  by  these  committees  again 
largely  to  the  permanent  officials. 

A  county  council  may  appoint  as  many  committees  as  it 
pleases,  but  certain  committees  have  to  be  appointed  by 
law.  It  must  have  a  finance  committee  and  an  education 
committee,  with  members  nominated  from  outside  the  Coun- 
cil in  accordance  with  a  government  scheme  in  each  case. 
And  it  must  appoint  half  the  members  of  the  standing  joint 
committee  which  manages  and  controls  the  county  police, 
the  other  half  being  appointed  by  the  Justices  of  the  Peace. 
In  this  respect  it  will  be  seen  the  county  council  possesses 
less  absolute  power  than  the  watch  committee  of  the  town 
council,  and  this  provision  is  probably  a  survival  from  the 
time  before  the  councils  were  created  thirty  years  ago,  when 
all  local  county  government  of  this  kind  was  done  by  the 
Justices  of  the  Peace  in  Quarter  Sessions.  The  council 
levies  rates  for  special  purposes,  on  the  recommendation  of 
the  finance  committee.  It  is  concerned  with  the  provision 
and  upkeep  of  main  roads  and  bridges,  with  public  health, 
asylums,  the  provision  of  small  holdings,  with  elementary, 
secondary,  and  technical  education,  and  with  various  in- 
cidentals of  local  government,  such  as  contagious  cattle  dis- 
eases, or  fishery  preservation  and  river  pollution,  often  in 
joint  committees  uniting  county  councils  and  other  author- 
ities together.  It  can  also  promote  private  Acts,  or  obtain 
Provisional  Orders  for  purposes  devised  for  the  communal 


156  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

welfare  similar  to  those  I  have  already  described  promoted 
by  the  town  councils. 

The  record  of  this  comparatively  newly  tried  scheme  of 
local  life  is  one  both  of  success  and  failure.  It  is  of  success 
in  the  fact  that  the  scheme  is  working  on  what  is  legally  a 
popularly  elected  basis,  that  in  the  routine  work  laid  upon 
them  the  councils  are  generally  efficient,  and  that  there  has 
been  little  if  any  suggestion  of  corruption  in  administration 
or  appointment.  In  some  great  county  councils,  in  practi- 
cally urbanized  areas  such  as  Lancashire  or  Middlesex,  the 
energy  and  interest  is  almost  as  great  as  in  the  surrounding 
towns.  But  in  the  definite  country  districts  it  has  been  a 
failure  in  so  far  as  it  expected  general  interest  to  be  aroused 
in  local  government,  the  problems  facing  it  to  be  discussed 
outside  a  very  narrow  circle,  or  the  councils  themselves  to 
be  composed  of  men  of  all  classes  of  society.  This  failure 
is  in  part  due  to  the  natural  conditions  of  the  country  life 
of  England.  It  is  impossible  for  any  but  the  wealthy  and 
leisured  class  to  give  up  the  time,  and  undergo  the  expense 
of  frequent  travel,  from  long  distances  away,  to  the  centre 
of  local  administration,  to  serve  on  council  or  committee. 
Nor  can  any  but  the  comparatively  affluent  and  well-known 
hope  to  succeed  in  obtaining  election  under  conditions  where 
the  ordinary  apparatus  of  electioneering  stimulus  can  only 
with  difficulty  be  brought  into  play.  And  in  part  this  is  due 
to  artificial  conditions,  to  the  steady  decay  of  the  rural 
life  of  England  which  extended  up  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Great  War,  by  which  all  that  was  active  and  ambitious  was 
sucked  into  the  great  cities  in  a  process  of  emigration,  which 
was  leaving  little  outside  but  the  old,  the  apathetic,  and  the 
unenterprising.  In  so  far  as  there  was  a  return  movement, 
it  was  of  men  who  had  made  wealth  in  those  cities,  purchas- 
ing the  estates  of  the  older  families,  and  bringing  with  them 


GOVERNMENT  OF  COUNTRY-SIDE  157 

into  the  country-side,  the  atmosphere  and  temper  of  the 
town.  And  these,  in  the  main,  had  little  of  that  sense  of 
responsibility  for  county  government  which  was  maintained 
as  a  tradition  among  the  old  landed  families,  to  whom  that 
government  has  been  entrusted  for  so  many  centuries. 

The  result  is  that  for  the  most  part,  although  the  form 
of  popular  election  is  maintained,  the  system  in  essential  is 
little  changed  from  that  which  prevailed  before  they  were 
created.  It  is  doubtful,  indeed,  whether  if  the  old  system 
had  been  allowed  to  continue,  there  might  not  be  today  more 
of  a  mixture  of  classes  in  county  local  government  than  ex- 
ists under  the  appearance  of  democratic  election.  For  under 
the  older  system  this  government  was  carried  on  by  Justices 
of  the  Peace  who  were  appointed  for  life  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor.  And  when  a  Liberal  Government  is  in  power,  a 
Lord  Chancellor,  to  show  his  friendly  feelings  towards  other 
than  the  rich  and  landed  classes,  appoints  a  certain  number 
of  Nonconformists  to  balance  the  Established  Churchmen, 
or  a  certain  number  of  innocuous  "working-men" — aged 
secretaries  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Buffaloes  or  other  re- 
spectable Thrift  Societies — to  balance  the  dominance  of  the 
wealthy.  One  could  image,  therefore,  by  such  a  system  of 
nomination,  a  wise  Government  creating  a  body  of  all  classes 
to  administer  the  local  affairs  of  the  country-side.  But  in 
the  elective  system,  the  landed  interest  completely  dominates. 
In  a  great  mass  of  rural  constituencies  there  is  no  contest 
at  all,  and  the  candidates  nominated  are  returned  unop- 
posed. In  one  election  in  Norfolk,  which  is  more  lively 
than  most  counties,  in  fifty-six  electoral  districts  there 
were  only  six  contests. 

And  although  in  the  main  this  does  not  seem  to  lead  to 
inefficiency,  or  efficiency  is  guaranteed  by  officials,  and  the 
members  of  the  councils  are  well-meaning  and  public  spirited, 


158  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

it  results  in  a  complete  dominance  of  the  ideas  which  appeal 
to  the  landed  classes,  and  in  a  kind  of  passive  resistance  to 
any  attempts  of  the  Central  Government  to  stimulate  a  pol- 
icy which  is  opposed  to  their  tradition.  In  1907,  for  ex- 
ample, the  Government  laid  upon  the  county  councils  the 
duty  of  providing  small  holdings  for  labourers  and  others 
who  wished  to  attempt  an  independent  cultivation  of  land. 
But  the  class  from  which  the  county  councils  are  drawn  do 
not  believe  in  small  holdings  and  the  independent  cultivation 
of  land.  The  result  was  that,  although  in  one  or  two  coun- 
cils where  those  who  desired  land  were  organized,  and  could 
bring  pressure  to  bear,  such  as  Norfolk  and  the  Lincoln- 
shire Councils,  a  considerable  number  of  such  small  holders 
were  established,  in  the  great  majority  the  results  were 
negligible.  And  this  because  the  councils  deliberately 
neglected  the  demand  of  the  Central  Government.  They 
all  appointed  the  Small  Holdings  Committee  which  the  law 
ordered  them  to.  But  it  was  so  easy  to  do  nothing  on  the 
ground  that  there  was  no  effective  demand,  or  that  no  suit- 
able land  could  be  obtained,  or  that — in  the  most  serious 
criticism  of  all — the  policy  would  involve  a  charge  on  the 
rates,  that  it  was  easy  to  postpone  action  for  months  and 
years,  until  the  war,  like  the  flood,  "came  suddenly  and 
destroyed  them  all."  In  the  same  way,  although  the  county 
councils  were  given  power  to  build  houses  in  the  villages  for 
the  labourers  and  the  conditions  of  the  houses  in  the  villages 
in  many  parts  of  England  are  a  scandal  to  civilization, 
practically  nothing  has  been  done.  For  these  deplorable 
cottages  were  let  to  the  labourers  at  traditionally  non- 
economic  rents,  and  to  build  houses  at  anything  like  the  same 
rents  would  have  required  a  subsidy  from  the  rates ;  and  in 
rural  England  the  rates  are  regarded  as  greater  enemies 
than  battle,  murder,  or  sudden  death.  Generally  you  may 


GOVERNMENT  OF  COUNTRY-SIDE  159 

say  of  these  county  councils  that,  in  so  far  as  they  are  re- 
quired to  carry  out  local  government  in  a  policy  not  incon- 
gruous with  the  ideals  of  the  British  landed  classes,  they 
do  their  work  efficiently  and  to  the  general  satisfaction.  In 
so  far  as  work  is  laid  upon  them  hostile  to  these  ideals,  they 
find  satisfactory  reasons  for  not  doing  the  work  at  all. 

The  Rural  District  Councils  and  the  Urban  District 
Councils  represent  lesser  authorities  within  a  county  council 
area,  on  an  analogy,  similar  roughly,  although  by  no  means 
in  detail,  to  the  relation  between  the  London  County  Council 
and  the  London  Borough  Councils  which  I  have  already 
described. 

The  urban  districts  represent  a  kind  of  borough  half 
grown  up.  Many  of  them  are  in  the  transition  stage  of  a 
growing  town,  between  the  time  when  the  locality  was  little 
more  than  a  scattered  group  of  houses,  to  the  time  when  it 
is  to  receive  from  the  town  its  character  of  incorporation, 
and  blossom  out  into  all  the  pomp  and  panoply  of  mayor, 
corporation,  town  hall,  and  chains  of  office.  Some  of  these 
councils,  especially  those  plastered  round  London,  are  of 
enormous  size,  with  a  greater  population  than  those  of  most 
of  the  great  cities.  Whereas  there  are  quite  a  number 
which  are  really  rural  districts,  which  have  less  than  ten 
thousand,  or  even  less  than  three  thousand  inhabitants. 
They  differ  from  all  the  boroughs  in  the  fact  that  their 
elections  are  held  in  March  instead  of  November ;  that  they 
are  held  only  once  in  three  years,  when  all  the  councillors 
retire  at  once ;  and  that  they  have  no  aldermen  or  nominated 
members.  They  differ  from  the  larger  boroughs  in  that 
they  are,  as  it  were,  fathered  by  the  county  councils,  who 
can  arrange,  on  their  request,  that  the  election  should  be 
for  the  whole  number  every  three  years,  or  for  one  third 
every  year  (practically  all  have  petitioned  for  the  former), 


160 

and  who  also  have  control  of  functions  which  in  the  big 
boroughs  are  controlled  by  the  boroughs  themselves. 

The  important  and  dominating  functions  of  these  urban 
and  rural  district  councils,  is  the  improvement  of  public 
health.  They  are  the  legitimate  children  of  the  "Local 
Boards"  in  the  regions  outside  the  boroughs,  which  were 
formed  to  grapple  with  the  entirely  appalling  conditions  of 
sanitation  and  disease  in  the  middle  years  of  nineteenth 
century  England.  The  urban  and  rural  district  councils, 
therefore,  deal  mainly  with  questions  of  drainage,  water  sup- 
ply, infectious  diseases,  nuisance,  lighting,  and  roads  other 
than  certain  main  traffic  roads.  Urban  district  councils 
with  more  than  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  are  local 
authorities  for  elementary  education,  and  are  bound  to 
keep  efficient  all  public  elementary  schools.  They  can  also 
issue  by-laws  and  regulations  on  public  health  and  similar 
subjects,  on  the  same  lines  as  those  I  have  described  being 
issued  by  the  town  municipalities ;  and  they  can  also,  in  the 
same  fashion,  promote  private  Bills  in  Parliament.  They 
work  under  exactly  the  same  system  of  a  council,  of  com- 
mittees, and  of  a  permanent  staff,  as  do  the  governments 
of  the  boroughs.  They  levy  a  general  district  rate,  mainly 
for  public  health  expenses  in  exactly  the  same  fashion. 
And  this  general  district  rate  allows  certain  exceptions  and 
reductions  for  such  property  as  railways,  canals,  etc., 
which  is  not  allowed  in  the  case  of  the  borough  rate.  The 
general  district  rate  will  go  to  pay  both  in  boroughs  and 
districts  outside  them  for  the  cost  of  sewerage  and  drainage, 
highways  and  streets,  lighting,  prevention  of  nuisances, 
diseases,  provisions  of  parks  and  cemeteries,  baths  and  wash- 
houses,  public  libraries,  and  any  deficit  incurred  in  the 
provision  of  houses  for  the  working  classes. 

You   must  look   on  these   urban   councils,   therefore,   as 


GOVERNMENT  OF  COUNTRY-SIDE  161 

in  very  much  the  same  position  as  the  councils  of  the  small 
boroughs,  though  rather  more  under  the  control  of  the 
Central  Government,  by  whom  their  accounts  are  audited 
by  independent  auditors,  appointed  by  the  Ministry  of 
Health.  They  are  made  up  of  the  same  varied  selection 
of  different  classes  as  are  the  boroughs  of  the  councils. 

When  they  consist  of  densely  populated  working-class 
districts,  representative  working  men  are  often  returned. 
In  others,  professional  men,  lawyers,  local  manufacturers, 
shop-keepers,  or  business  leaders  form  the  bulk  of  the  local 
councils.  The  elections  are  often  fought  as  are  the  town 
council  elections  on  so-called  party  lines,  and  those  who 
are  returned  have  to  profess  allegiance  to  one  of  the  recog- 
nized parties,  Conservative,  Liberal,  or  Labour.  They  do 
not,  however,  as  in  Parliament,  vote  by  party  as  a  rule, 
but  carry  on  the  work  of  administration  to  the  best  of  their 
ability  in  amicable  work  on  committees,  in  which  party  is 
left  outside  the  door. 

It  has  been  stated  in  rough  definition  that,  while  the 
county  councils  are  bodies  of  land  owners,  the  rural  district 
councils  are  bodies  of  farmers. 

In  the  urban  district  council  areas  the  Poor  Law  Guard- 
ians exist,  administering  the  Poor  Law  quite  separate  from 
them,  and  chosen  in  a  different  election.  In  the  country 
districts  the  rural  district  council  are  the  Guardians  under 
another  name,  and  administer  both  the  Public  Health  Acts 
and  the  Poor  Law.  Technically  they  are  distinct,  although 
their  chairman,  members,  and  officials  are  the  same,  and 
they  meet  on  the  same  day,  first  as  Rural  District  Council- 
lors and  then  as  Guardians. 

Very  little  interest  is  taken  in  these  rural  councils.  No 
social  or  professional  advantage  is  given  by  membership 
of  them,  and  in  most  cases  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  find 


162 

efficient  candidates  than  to  find  vacancies  for  them.  At 
the  Central  Authority  they  were  rather  more  in  favour 
than  the  county  councils,  because  more  completely  under 
control,  with  less  Parliamentary  influence;  with  none  of  the 
independence,  and  little  of  the  truculence  of  the  councils 
representing  the  big  landed  proprietors;  who  could  bring, 
and  often  did  bring,  pressure  to  bear  on  the  Government 
to  make  it  reverse  the  actions  of  its  officials.  Their  chief 
work  is  concerned  with  water,  nuisances,  drainage  and 
disease,  housing,  etc.,  and  they  also  deal  with  the  roads 
which  are  not  main  roads,  besides  often  themselves  repairing 
and  maintaining  the  main  roads  at  the  cost  of  the  county 
council,  which  pays  them  for  the  job.  They  can  expand 
if  they  please  in  the  provision  of  allotments  and  houses, 
although  very  few  of  them  have  done  so.  Their  chief 
characteristic  is  a  vigilant  determination,  at  almost  any  cost 
of  possible  improvement,  to  keep  down  the  rates  which  the 
farmers  think  they  pay,  and  which  undoubtedly,  in  so  far 
as  they  own  their  land,  they  do  pay.  They  have  none 
of  the  historic  tradition,  or  ancient  and  picturesque  clothing 
and  customs  of  the  little  boroughs.  Many  of  them,  in 
addition  to  the  farmers,  carry  an  enormous  number  of 
builders,  and  charges,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  have 
been  brought  against  them  that  in  the  past  they  have 
adopted  and  enforced  in  the  country,  by-laws  which  are 
only  necessary  for  protection  against  fire  or  disease  in  the 
towns;  as,  for  example,  the  prohibition  of  wooden  houses; 
and  that  they  did  this  in  order  to  advantage  the  building 
trade.  However  these  things  may  be,  it  is  undoubtedly  the 
fact  that  their  work  is  carried  on  with  no  local  interest  and 
little  local  pride,  and  that  no  man's  heart  has  been  caused 
to  beat  more  speedily  because  he  has  been  introduced  to 
a  rural  district  councillor. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  COUNTRY-SIDE  163 

And  if  these  rural  councils  have  failed  to  arouse  the 
vigour  desired  by  their  creators,  still  more  lamentable  has 
been  the  collapse  of  the  attempt  to  revive  the  parish  as 
an  area  of  local  government.  You  can  look  back  through 
the  long  past  into  the  distant  time  centuries  before  the 
coming  of  the  railways,  the  post,  and  the  telegraph,  when 
the  parish  was  the  whole  centre  of  the  life  of  England.  The 
village  church,  which  still  survives,  was  at  once  the  home  j 
of  its  religion,  and  the  centre  of  its  government.  The 
beauty  of  its  architecture,  and  the  splendour  of  its  artistic 
possession,  as  revealed  even  by  the  inventories  which  Dr. 
Jessop  has  described  in  the  days  before  the  great  pillage, 
exhibit  a  craftsmanship,  a  pride  in  labour,  and  an  originality 
and  variety  of  talent  and  even  genius,  revealed  in  a  people 
who  could  neither  read  nor  write,  enduring  a  condition  of 
discomfort  which  today  the  most  remote  and  backward 
village  would  refuse  for  a  moment  to  tolerate.  The  parish, 
as  I  have  said,  provided  a  rate  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
priest  and  its  services,  and  later  laid  upon  it  the  burden  of 
maintaining  its  own  poor.  But  with  separation  of  religious 
from  civil  life,  the  merging  of  parishes  in  Unions,  the  great 
emigration  from  the  villages  to  the  towns,  and  the  decay 
which  fell  upon  those  villages  when  they  were  deserted  by 
everything  that  was  vigorous  and  alive,  the  parish,  as  a 
self-conscious  entity  of  government  practically  ceased  to 
exist.  The  attempt  to  revive  it  thirty  years  ago  came  a 
century  too  late.  It  was  found  in  the  majority  of  cases 
there  was  nothing  left  to  revive.  Powers  given  to  the 
Parish  Councils  were  rigidly  limited,  and  the  majority  of 
the  parishes  have  taken  no  trouble  to  use  them  at  all.  Of 
over  twelve  thousand  rural  parishes,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
select  today  a  hundred  parish  councils  which  exhibit  any 
really  active  local  life,  excite  interest  among  the  electors, 


164.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

or  effectually  put  into  force  the  various  measures  which 
they  are  allowed  to  do  by  law  for  the  benefit  of  the 
neighbourhood. 

Paiishes  with  less  than  three  hundred  inhabitants  may 
be  content  with  a  parish  meeting  once  a  year,  at  which  all 
the  electors  can  attend  and  come  to  decisions  concerning 
their  welfare.  Every  parish  of  over  three  hundred  inhabi- 
tants is  by  law  compelled  to  elect  a  parish  council.  The 
annual  assembly  of  the  parish  meeting  must  be  held  at  a 
date  in  March,  and  in  the  evening,  in  order  that  the  labourers 
may  be  able  to  attend.  It  consists  of  every  man  and  woman 
who  is  on  the  register.  Every  elector  has  a  vote,  and  every 
question  is  decided  by  a  majority  on  a  show  of  hands,  unless 
a  poll  is  demanded.  The  parish  council  consists  of  from 
five  to  fifteen  members,  elected  every  three  years  by  the 
parish  meeting,  or  if  a  poll  is  demanded,  by  a  poll.  By 
Statute,  four  meetings  at  least  have  to  be  held  every  year. 
The  parish  councils  are  .given  various  powers  transferred 
from  the  old  vestries,  of  which  the  most  important  is  the 
appointment  of  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  an  official  whose 
chief  function  today  is  to  transfer  as  much  of  the  rate  as 
he  can  to  other  parishes,  and  to  protect  his  own.  It  also 
deals  with  the  village  green,  with  the  maintenance  of  allot- 
ments, with  the  village  pond,  and  village  wells  and  streams. 
And  it  may  complain  about  the  lack  of  energy  in  its  parish, 
on  public  health,  of  the  rural  district  council.  It  may  pro- 
tect public  rights  of  way,  and  undertake  the  maintenance  of 
footpaths,  though  this  power  is  limited  by  the  very  small 
amount  of  money  it  is  able  to  raise.  Its  chief  power  is  in 
the  provision  of  allotments,  i.  e.  the  obtaining  by  lease  or 
purchase  of  parcels  of  land  which  can  be  let  out  to  labourers 
and  others  of  the  district  at  a  moderate  price,  and  which 
these  can  then  cultivate  with  more  or  less  success.  The 


GOVERNMENT  OF  COUNTRY-SIDE  165 

few  parish  councils  which  have  shown  any  activity  at  ah1, 
have  shown  it  mainly  in  this  direction,  where  some  local 
clergyman,  or  reforming  farmer,  has  been  able  to  excite 
enthusiasm,  real  if  sometimes  transitory,  for  the  obtaining 
of  land  for  the  local  inhabitants  to  cultivate. 

But  the  powers  of  obtaining  a  rate,  or  of  borrowing 
money,  are  so  rigidly  limited,  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  the  parish  council  to  embark  upon  any  substantial 
business.  It  both  fails  to  attract  men  to  its  service,  and 
has  no  men  to  be  attracted.  Text-books  of  foreign  and 
interested  observers  give  elaborate  description  of  all  the 
provisions  for  active  rural  life,  set  out  in  a  long  array  of 
clauses  and  orders ;  and  imagine  a  rural  England  as  vigorous 
as  the  communes  of  prosperous,  land-owning  peasants  with 
which  all  Europe  was  familiar  before  the  ruin  of  war. 
Personal  investigation  of  the  ordinary  British  village  would 
reveal  a  class  of  landless  labourers,  working  for  other  men 
on  a  weekly  wage  system,  some  of  whom  desire  land,  but 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  how  to  get  it ;  others  of  whom 
have  no  such  desire,  and  acquiesce  in  a  life  carried  on  without 
it.  From  all  such  villages  so  composed  those  boys  and 
girls  who  possess  vigour  and  ambition  depart  on  attaining 
maturity  for  the  towns  and  beyond  the  seas ;  with  a  deter- 
mination that,  whatever  vicissitudes  of  fortune  they  may 
endure,  they  will  never  return  to  the  English  country-side. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  GUARDIANS  OF  THE  POOR 

Behind  and  apart  from  all  these  local  authorities,  stands 
the  apparatus  for  the  guardianship  of  the  poorest  from 
starvation,  which  spreads  alike  through  town  and  country. 
It  inherits  directly  from  the  oldest  unit  of  universal  govern- 
ment— the  parish,  as  endowed  with  powers  and  duties  by  the 
Elizabethan  Poor  Law.  The  somewhat  squalid  nature  of 
the  present  is  in  part  redeemed  by  its  great  past  and  the 
"Christian  Socialism"  of  its  original  conception. 

This  is  the  simplest  and  most  clean-cut  in  function.  The 
"Guardians  of  the  Poor"  have  one  function,  and  one  only 
(apart  from  lesser  items,  such  as  dealing  with  vaccination, 
which  are  unimportant) — that  is  to  administer  the  Poor 
Law  under  the  rigorous  control  of  the  Central  Authority 
whose  name  has  been  changed  recently  from  that  of  Local 
Government  Board  to  that  of  Ministry  of  Health.  They 
are  elected  for  a  term  of  three  years,  at  elections  held 
specially  for  the  purpose  on  the  widest  possible  franchise, 
and  their  qualifications  are  merely  a  place  on  the  voters' 
roll,  or  residence  within  the  area  of  the  Union.  Their 
election  evokes,  generally,  no  kind  of  interest,  and  only  a 
small  percentage  of  the  electors  take  the  trouble  to  vote  at 
all.  Their  function  is  to  deal  in  various  ways  appropriate 
to  the  various  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions,  with  those  classes 
which,  for  some  reason  or  other,  have  fallen  through  the 

166 


THE  GUARDIANS  OF  THE  POOR  167 

bottom  of  the  ordinary  industrial  machine,  and  whose  only 
other  alternatives  are  charity  or  starvation.  They  are  not 
alloVed  to  give  grants  of  money  or  of  food  and  other  neces- 
saries of  life  to  the  able-bodied  male  poor.  But  they  can 
gather  these  together  into  great  blocks  of  buildings  called 
workhouses;  in  which  they  are  supposed  to  do  work,  and 
supposed  to  be  fed,  but  on  a  scale  less  attractive  than  any 
attainable  by  any  persons  who  are  doing  remunerative  work 
outside.  It  is  their  duty  also  to  provide  for  temporary 
accommodation  for  penniless  persons  who  are  moving  from 
place  to  place,  and  who  have  no  other  food  or  lodging  for 
the  night.  This  they  do  in  what  are  called  casual  wards, 
at  which  no  applicant  can  be  legally  refused ;  although  he  can 
be  compelled,  in  return  for  such  food  and  shelter  as  is  given 
him,  to  perform  a  certain  amount  of  forced  labour  before 
he  is  allowed  to  go  free  on  the  following  day.  They  can 
provide  what  is  called  outdoor  relief,  that  is,  definite  doles 
of  money  or  food  or  clothes,  to  any  who  are  supposed  to.  be 
not  able-bodied ;  including  women  whose  husbands  are  dead, 
and  who  cannot  find  work,  or  who  have  children  to  support. 
They  have  the  duty  laid  on  them  of  caring  for  the  poor 
who  are  sick  or  injured,  and  of  equipping  and  maintaining 
infirmaries  in  which  such  persons  can  be  treated  until  they 
die,  or  are  made  well  again. 

And  they  are  supposed  to  extort  from  the  relatives  of 
these  persons  and  of  lunatics  who  are  supported  by  the 
State  such  sums  as  they  can  be  expected  to  pay  towards  the 
cost  of  supporting  the  sick  and  injured  poor.  They  are 
also  charged  with  making  provision  for  children  who  have 
been  left  orphans,  or  without  support.  And  they  have  at- 
tempted to  do  this  in  a  variety  of  ways,  all  of  which  have  been 
strongly  criticized:  by  barrack-schools,  by  communities  of 
children  in  villages  built  for  the  purpose,  by  scattered  homes 


168  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

in  which  little  groups  of  children  are  put  under  the  charge 
of  a  matron,  by  boarding  out  children  in  private  families 
who  are  willing  to  take  these  unfortunate  children  of  the 
State  in  return  for  a  small  weekly  payment.  And  for  these, 
also,  they  attempt  to  extort  sums  towards  their  maintenance 
from  any  relatives  with  a  legal  obligation  to  support  them. 

All  this  work  requires  large  expenditure  of  money,  and 
there  is  practically  little  received  in  return.  For  the  money 
extorted  for  maintenance  in  infirmaries  or  for  the  support 
of  children  is  almost  negligible  in  proportion  to  the  cost. 
And  though  able-bodied  men  are  supposed  to  work  in  work- 
houses and  casual  wards,  and  the  products  of  their  labour 
can  be  sold,  as  a  matter  of  fact  such  work  as  is  done  by  them 
is  far  more  a  test  of  unpleasantness  than  a  means  of  obtain- 
ing money.  The  overwhelming  bulk  of  the  income,  therefore, 
has  to  come  from  the  Poor  Rate,  that  is,  a  levy  of  so  much 
in  the  pound  varying  in  proportion  to  the  amount  required 
from  year  to  year,  imposed  by  the  overseers  upon  the  value 
of  the  land  and  property  of  the  Union,  in  proportion  to  the 
value  which  they  themselves  have  put  upon  it.1 

A  Board  of  Guardians  changes  completely  every  three 
years  unless  old  members  are  re-elected.  Its  membership 
may  consist  of  both  men  and  women.  It  elects  a  chairman 
from  among  its  members,  and  it  usually  divides  its  work 
among  a  series  of  committees,  each  of  which  takes  up  detailed 
consideration  and  control  of  one  of  its  activities.  The 
whole  Board  will  meet  at  intervals  under  the  chairman,  and 
will  have  before  it  detailed  accounts  (called  minutes)  of 
what  each  committee  has  decided  upon  the  particular  points 
which  have  come  before  it  since  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Board.  These  reports  are  either  passed,  that  is  to  say, 


As  I  have  said  above,  this  Poor  Rate  and  its  assessment  has  come  to 
be  the  foundation  of  the  other  local  rating. 


THE  GUARDIANS  OF  THE  POOR  169 


accepted  without  question,  or  challenged  by  some  members 
of  the  Board,  in  which  case  a  debate  occurs,  and  perhaps 
a  division,  and  the  Board  may  endorse  the  decisions  of  the 
committee,  or  send  them  back  for  further  consideration,  or 
even  decide  in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  way  the  committee 
had  decided.  Whatever  their  decision,  it  is  final,  unless 
challenged  by  the  Ministry  of  Health  as  outside  the  law 
under  which  they  are  working;  in  which  case  disputes  and 
controversies  may  arise  between  the  Central  and  the  Local 
Authority.  But  apart  from  this  the  Board  as  a  whole 
incorporates  without  detailed  examination  the  decisions  of 
its  committee,  and  thus  carries  out  the  system  of  govern- 
ment by  committees  which  is  characteristic  of  all  British 
local  government. 

An  active  Board  of  Guardians  will  thus  have  probably 
a  Finance  Committee  to  deal  with  the  question  of  money, 
one  or  more  Workhouse  Committees  to  carry  on  the  detailed 
work  of  the  supervision  of  workhouses  and  casual  wards, 
an  Infirmary  Committee  similarly  to  supervise  the  infirmary, 
a  Relief  Committee  to  examine  one  by  one  individual  appli- 
cants for  out-door  relief,  to  investigate  their  stories  of 
poverty,  and  to  decide  how  much  or  how  little  can  rightly 
be  granted  to  them ;  and  a  Children's  Committee  to  deal  with 
the  treatment  of  each  separate  child  who  has  become  one  of 
the  children  of  the  State. 

All  these  are  dealing  with  human  problems  requiring 
alike  intelligence  and  compassion,  and  of  importance  not 
only  to  the  happiness  of  numbers  of  forlorn  and  battered 
people,  but  also  of  the  whole  economic  condition  of  the  State 
which  has  undertaken  the  support  of  successive  generations 
of  these  unfortunates.  You  would  think,  therefore,  that  the 
work  would  attract  men  and  women  of  exceptional  capacity, 
animated  by  the  desire  to  mitigate  human  misery,  and  to 


170  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

exercise  the  work  of  restoration  and  improvement.  Facts, 
however,  are  largely  otherwise.  The  work  is  done  amid 
dingy  surroundings,  and  carries  with  it  none  of  the  dis- 
tinction, even  in  outward  display,  which  is  still  associated 
with  a  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Town  Councillors.  The 
Guardians  have  to  administer  a  law  which,  as  transformed 
in  1834,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  was  designed  to  be 
penal  rather  than  reformative.  And  they  are  rigidly  limited 
in  any  variation  from  penal  towards  reformative  elements 
by  the  vigilant  watch  and  control  of  the  Central  Authority. 
No  bodies  of  elected  persons  possess  less  independence  or 
power  of  initiative;  and  the  orders  which  have  been  issued 
with  bewildering  frequency  by  the  Local  Government  Board, 
and  are  now  collected  into  many  stout  volumes,  command, 
to  the  remote  details  of  diet  or  permitted  recreation,  what 
may  or  may  not  be  done  with  the  persons  who  have  fallen 
into  their  clutches  or  evoked  their  aid.  The  dominating 
influence,  especially  in  the  country  districts,  where  the 
Guardians  are  mostly  farmers,  and  elected  by  farmers,  is 
that  of  keeping  down  the  irritating  burden  of  the  Poor 
Rate,  and  cutting  expenses  to  the  bone.  In  other  cases, 
where  kindliness  rather  than  intelligence  has  created  a  liberal 
expenditure,  the  results  have  shown  no  advantage  in  human 
welfare  and  happiness  proportional  to  the  money  that  has 
been  thrown  away. 

It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  the  Guardians  as  a  whole 
are  faced  with  an  impossible  problem.  Among  the  poor 
themselves,  their  work  has  from  the  first  been  hated.  Their 
workhouses  were  denounced  as  "Bastilles"  on  their  erection. 
The  very  condition  of  their  administration  is  to  make  the 
life  of  those  who  seek  their  succour  so  unpleasant  as  to  drive 
these  out  again  from  State  support  into  work  outside.  The 
workhouses  are  choked  with  a  squalid  crowd  of  vacant, 


THE  GUARDIANS  OF  THE  POOR  171 

half-witted,  languid,  or  work-hating  persons,  and  those  who 
happen  to  enter  through  misfortune,  and  who  have  normal 
minds,  very  rarely  escape  the  infection  of  the  mass.  Even 
the  children,  for  whom  there  would  appear  to  be  most  hope, 
are  mainly  below  the  average  in  physical  and  mental  de- 
velopment, and  many  of  them  drift  into  unsatisfactory  and 
low  paid  occupations  when  they  vanish  from  the  care  of  the 
State.  Definitive  amelioration  and  reformative  work  is 
largely  left  to  the  work  of  religious  and  charitable  bodies 
outside.  And  it  is  to  these,  rather  than  under  the  dull, 
heavy,  and  penal  limitation  of  the  Poor  Law  that  most  men 
and  women  turn  who  are  inspired  by  a  real  passion  to  assist 
the  "under-dog."  Nothing  has  been  generally  introduced 
into  the  Government  system  similar  to  that,  for  example,  of 
the  famous  German  Elberfeldt  System  before  the  war,  in 
which  responsibility  was  undertaken  for  an  attempt  to  restore 
each  single  individual  by  suitable  individual  treatment,  to 
the  position  of  a  free,  self-respecting  citizen.  Ten  years 
ago  a  Royal  Commission,  divided  in  the  nature  of  the  reforms 
advocated,  unanimously  condemned  the  results  of  the  British 
Poor  Law  and  its  administration.  And  it  is  in  a  system 
thus  condemned  that  those  Guardians  who  are  manfully 
striving  to  carry  out  public  duty,  are  now  attempting  the 
difficult  work  assigned  to  them. 


PART  III 
LAW  AND  JUSTICE 


C  HAP  TER     XI 

THE    LOW    JUSTICE 


The  various  Courts  of  Justice  operating  throughout  the 
country  have  this  in  common:  that  it  is  perfectly  possible 
for  the  ordinary  citizen  to  pass  through  his  whole  life  and 
never  go  inside  one  of  them.  Indeed,  this  is  probably  the 
condition  of  the  majority  of  mankind;  that  neither  as 
witness,  litigant,  or  juryman  have  they  ever  entered  a  Law 
Court.  This  is  the  more  curious  because,  in  theory,  the 
panel  from  which  jurors  are  chosen  is  supposed  to  cover 
the  whole  body  of  citizens,  including  women.  In  practice, 
however,  it  is  limited  in  a  number  of  directions. 

The  different  Courts  or  Sessions  are  graded  according 
to  the  importance  of  the  case  with  which  they  have  to  deal. 
In  criminal  matters,  beginning  with  the  lowest,  the  gamut 
runs  through  Petty  Sessions,  Quarter  Sessions,  High  Court, 
Court  of  Criminal  Appeal.  Civil  disputes  between  private 
citizens  are  tried  at  the  County  Court,  Divisional  Courts, 
the  High  Court,  or  the  Court  of  Appeal.  Supreme  above  all 
other  Courts,  and  able  to  hear  appeals  from  all,  is  the 
tribunal  of  the  House  of  Lords,  consisting  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  ex-Lord  Chancellors,  and 
eminent  peers  holding  life  peerages  only  and  known  as  Law 
Lords.  Here  appeals  end;  chiefly  because  they  must  end 
somewhere.  There  are,  besides,  two  other  divisions  of  the 
High  Court :  the  Court  of  Chancery,  dealing  with  a  quality 

175 


176  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

of  case  to  which  the  public  usually  pays  very  little  attention ; 
and  the  Court  of  Probate,  Divorce,  and  Admiralty.  There 
is  in  addition  the  Bankruptcy  Court.  There  are  also  special 
Commissions  dealing  with  railways  and  canals. 

The  Courts  with  which  the  ordinary  citizen  is  most  likely 
to  become  acquainted  are  probably  the  Courts  of  "Petty 
Sessions"  or  "Summary  Jurisdiction."  Here  is  brought  for 
trial  any  one  who  commits  a  "minor  offence,"  such  as  for- 
getting to  take  out  a  dog  licence,  or  riding  a  bicycle  without 
a  light  after  dark,  or  being  drunk  and  disorderly  in  the 
street.  All  violation  of  "by-laws,"  for  which  small  fines  are 
imposed,  are  tried  before  the  Courts.  There  is  no  known 
principle  or  phrase  capable  of  describing  or  uniting  its 
functions,  and  an  alphabetical  list  of  its  duties  is  the  only 
way  of  covering  them.  One  list,  admittedly  incomplete, 
begins:  Apprentices,  Assaults,  Bake-houses,  Bastardy,  Bi- 
cycles, Birds  (Wild),  By-laws,  Canal-boats,  Children, 
Chimney  Sweeps,  Clubs,  Dogs,  Education,  and  so  on.  The 
only  element  in  common  is  that  the  case  should  be  small  or 
"petty."  For  it  is  the  inalienable  right  of  every  British 
subject  accused  of  a  serious  offence  (i.  e.  one  punishable  by 
imprisonment  for  more  than  six  months)  to  be  tried  by  a 
jury  if  he  wishes,  and  Petty  Sessions  has  no  jury.  Certain 
more  serious  crimes,  when  the  accused  can  claim  trial  by 
jury,  can,  however,  if  the  accused  is  willing,  be  dealt  with 
in  Petty  Sessions,  and  often  are. 

Here  also  comes,  for  preliminary  hearing,  the  cases  of 
serious  crime  which  are  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court, 
for  the  Court  to  decide  whether  there  is  a  prima  facie 
case,  that  is,  enough  evidence  against  the  prisoner  to  make 
it  necessary  for  him  to  be  tried.  This  examination  is  ordered 
by  the  Act  of  Habeas  Corpus,  one  of  the  oldest  provisions  of 
the  law,  designed  to  prevent  imprisonment  without  trial. 


THE  LOW  JUSTICE  177 

It  decrees  that  any  person  arrested  must  be  brought  before 
a  justice  "as  soon  as  may  be"  and  the  crime  stated  for  which 
he  has  been  arrested.  This  preliminary  hearing  or  examina- 
tion is  not  the  same  thing  as  a  trial,  because  the  Court  of 
Summary  Jurisdiction  has  in  these  cases  no  power  to  try 
the  case  or  to  sentence  the  prisoner.  If  the  Court  should 
dismiss  the  case  and  refuse  to  send  it  for  trial  on  the  ground 
of  insufficient  evidence,  and  more  evidence  be  obtained  later, 
the  prisoner  may  be  arrested  again  for  the  same  offence. 
This  could  not  happen  if  he  had  been  brought  before  a 
Court  capable  of  trying  and  sentencing  him,  because  "no 
man  may  be  put  in  peril  twice  for  the  same  cause,"  and 
dismissal  by  that  Court  is  final.  In  Petty  Sessions  he  is 
not  "in  peril."  In  practice,  the  amount  of  evidence  neces- 
sary for  a  prima  facie  case  is  so  slight  that  such  a  release 
and  re-arrest  is  extremely  unlikely. 

In  London  and  many  large  towns  the  Courts  of  Summary 
Jurisdiction  are  presided  over  by  a  "Stipendiary  Magis- 
trate," that  is,  a  barrister  appointed  by  the  Home  Office  and 
paid  a  salary  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  this  work.  He 
sits  alone  and  without  a  j  ury.  Many  stipendiaries,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  work  of  trying  cases,  devote  a  short  time  before 
the  Court  opens  to  giving  free  legal  advice  to  any  members 
of  the  general  public  who  may  come  to  ask  it ;  usually  a  piti- 
able, harassed,  and  bewildered  company  of  very  poor  people, 
to  whom  he  supplies  the  only  kind  of  legal  advice  open  to 
them. 

But  over  the  greater  part  of  the  country  the  Courts  of 
Petty  Sessions  are  presided  over  by  Justices  of  the  Peace 
(more  familiar  under  the  well-known  initials  J.  P.).  The 
office  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  derives  from  that  of  the 
Sheriff,  a  very  old  office,  probably  dating  back  to  the  very 
early  days  of  history.  A  Proclamation  in  1195  first  ap- 


178  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

pointed  the  justices  to  keep  the  peace  only;  later  they  ac- 
quired other  functions.  The  institution  is  quite  unique. 
No  other  country  has  anything  like  it.  A  Stipendiary 
Magistrate  is  paid,  and  is  supposed  to  know  the  law.  A 
Justice  of  the  Peace  is  unpaid,  and  knowledge  of  the  law  is 
not  required  of  him  (or  her,  women  now  being  entitled  to 
become  J.P.)  on  appointment.  It  is  true  that  the  Home 
Office  has  issued  some  very  admirable  circulars  of  advice  for 
his  instruction,  but  there  is  no  compulsion  on  him  to  read 
them.  The  legal  qualifications  for  the  office  are  technically 
chiefly  of  a  negative  kind.  There  used  to  be  a  property 
qualification,  but  it  is  gone.  A  Justice  of  the  Peace  must 
not  be  a  bankrupt,  or  have  been  convicted  of  a  serious  crime, 
or  practise  as  a  solicitor  within  the  same  county.  Other- 
wise almost  any  one  is  eligible  to  become  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace. 

Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  boroughs  are  appointed  for 
life  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  on  the  advice  of  a  Committee. 
Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  county  are  appointed  by  the 
Lord  Chancellor  usually  on  the  advice  of  the  Lord  Lieuten- 
ant. In  Lancashire  appointments  are  made  by  the  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Duchy,  an  office  usually  held  by  a  member  of  the 
Cabinet.  The  Mayor  of  a  borough  is  ex-officio  Chairman 
of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  during  his  term  of  office  and  a 
member  of  the  Bench  for  a  year  afterwards.  And  certain 
other  public  offices,  such  as  membership  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil, carry  with  them  the  privileges  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

In  practice  the  position  is  considered  to  be  one  of  such 
local  credit  and  honour  that  in  the  country  districts  at  least 
there  is  but  little  change  from  the  boastings  of  Mr.  Justice 
Shallow — "a  poor  esquire  of  this  county,  and  one  of  the 
king's  justices  of  the  peace" — to  his  old  friend  Falstaff 
that  he  has  attained  a  standard  of  respectability  remote 


THE  LOW  JUSTICE  179 

from  the  time  when  they  together  occupied  Clement's  Inn 
and  heard  the  chimes  at  midnight,  and  lay  all  night  in  the 
windmill  in  St.  George's  Fields.  The  Lord  Chancellor  and 
his  advisory  committees  look  round  for  a  certain  type  of 
person.  If  on  the  county  bench,  he  is  likely  to  be  a  person 
owning  tracts  of  land,  having  a  stake  in  the  country,  or  be- 
ing a  member  of  a  historic  family.  If  in  the  town  he  should 
be  a  prominent  citizen  respected  by  all,  of  unimpeachable 
private  life;  who  has  subscribed  to  hospitals,  and  made 
money,  and  shown  himself  a  good  citizen.  Attempts  are 
made  to  keep  the  balance  between  the  political  parties,  and 
even  Labour  men  are  now  appointed  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
so  long  as  they  are  of  the  moderate  sort,  of  middle  age, 
secretaries  of  Trade  Unions  or  Friendly  Societies,  "anti- 
Bolshevik,"  and  obviously  loyal  to  King  and  Country.  And 
the  landed  and  wealthy  classes  welcome  these  additions  to 
their  numbers,  and  are  very  pleased  to  patronize  with  kind- 
liness poor  men  who  are  raised  to  this  distinction.  For  the 
Justice  of  the  Peace  is  not  merely  a  voluntary  administrator 
of  Justice.  He  is  a  man  distinguished  from  his  fellows  for 
respectability,  sobriety,  wealth,  attainment.  And  for  every 
one  who  is  appointed  there  are  scores  or  hundreds  of  others 
who  think  they  have  more  right  than  that  one,  and  who 
each  make  miserable  the  lives  of  their  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment by  persuading  all  their  friends  to  write  to  him  to  put 
forward  his  claims  for  the  next  appointment  to  administer 
the  Low  Justice  in  his  district. 

At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  justice  administered  by 
a  Court  of  unpaid  amateurs  would  be  chaos  and  confusion. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  it  works  fairly  well.  In  the  first  place 
every  Court  is  provided  with  a  clerk,  a  solicitor,  who  is  nei- 
ther unpaid  nor  amateur,  and  whose  function  is  to  keep  the 
Bench  straight  in  matters  of  law.  Also  most  men  ap- 


180  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

pointed  to  a  judicial  position  would  try  to  be  fair  to  the 
best  of  their  capacity;  most  can  learn  by  experience;  and 
the  bulk  of  the  cases  brought  before  J.P.'s  in  Petty  Ses- 
sions are  simple,  and  in  only  a  small  number  are  the  facts 
obscure. 

The  criticisms  against  such  tribunals  are  not  as  a  rule 
directed  against  their  verdicts.  It  is  true  that  there  is,  or 
was,  in  existence  a  pair  of  brothers,  labourers,  in  a  country 
village,  who  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  each  other,  and  who 
were  wont  to  boast  that  the  elder  brother  had  been  con- 
victed of  poaching  by  the  local  Bench  some  twenty  times 
for  offences  committed  by  the  younger,  and  the  younger 
some  twenty-five  times  for  offences  committed  by  the  elder. 
Both  brothers  cheerfully  admitted  having  been  rightfully 
convicted  of  poaching  a  dozen  or  two  times  apiece.  They 
were,  in  fact,  impenitent  and  incurable  poachers.  But  such 
a  problem  might  have  perplexed  the  most  learned  Court  in 
the  land.  It  is,  however,  notorious  that  Justices  of  the 
Peace  do  exhibit  eccentricities  of  moral  indignation.  The 
individual  brought  up  for  poaching  before  some  Benches, 
or  for  furiously  driving  a  motor  before  others,  is  an  un- 
usually unfortunate  person.  And  in  many  cases  action  by 
a  "Bench"  of  magistrates  with  regard  to  juvenile  criminals 
has  been  deplorably  behind  the  practice  of  the  stipendiaries 
and  of  average  public  opinion  elsewhere.  Over  a  large  part 
of  the  kingdom,  for  example,  the  powers  given  by  the  Pro- 
bation of  Offenders  Act  have  hardly  been  used. 

Coke,  in  his  famous  assertion,  declared  of  the  Justices 
that  "the  whole  Christian  world  hath  not  the  like  office,  if 
truly  executed." 

For  many  years  a  prominent  newspaper  once  filled  two 
parallel  columns  every  week,  one  with  the  record  of  sentences 
for  crimes  obviously  too  heavy,  contrasted  with  a  column 


THE  LOW  JUSTICE  181 

of  sentences  obviously  too  light.  On  first  examination  it 
seems  incredible  that  ordinary  citizens,  mixing  with  their 
neighbours  in  freedom  and  indiscretion  one  day,  should  on 
another  be  dressed  up  with  a  little  brief  authority  and  be 
allowed  to  inflict  punishment  on  these  same  neighbours  with 
all  the  majesty  of  the  law.  All  the  old  administrative  powers 
they  once  possessed  have  been  taken  from  them.  But  this 
remains.  And  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  any  substantial  de- 
mand for  substituting  either  the  popularly  elected  judges 
of  the  United  States,  or  the  universal  appointment  of  whole- 
time  officials. 

Shakespeare,  perhaps  with  some  recollection  of  early  in- 
dignation, can  pillory  the  action  by  which  conscription  was 
enforced  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Justice  Shallow.  But  it  is 
doubtful  if  in  that  immortal  scene  in  Gloucestershire  there 
was  any  substantial  variation  in  justice  or  injustice  in  the 
compulsory  recruitment  of  Falstaff's  ragged  army  from  the 
method  of  the  rural  "competent  military  tribunal"  which 
replaced  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  executing  such  service 
in  England's  recent  war. 

The  fact  is  that  the  administration  of  punishment  for 
petty  crimes,  of  which  so  many  are  committed  day  by  day, 
is  a  function  for  which  the  provision  of  High  Court  Judges 
would  be  the  provision  of  a  steam  hammer  to  break  a  nut. 
The  choice  is  really  between  such  justices  as  these  magis- 
trates, nominated  and  either  voluntary  or  paid,  and  some 
elected  "judges"  appointed  on  the  American  State  system. 
The  former  appears  to  be  more  congruous  to  "this  old  Eng- 
land," and  certainly  performs  judicial  functions  with  as 
much  common-sense  justice  as  would  be  available  from  any 
elected  or  nomina-ted  Committee.  The  old  objection — that 
these  were  all  appointed  from  one  class,  the  owners  of  land 
— has  largely  passed  away.  And  the  base  opening  of  the 


182  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

door  to  men  of  all  occupations  and  women  has  caused  the 
former  criticism  to  disappear. 

Quarter  Sessions  is  a  periodical  meeting  of  the  Justices 
of  the  Peace  of  the  county.  They  try  persons  accused  of 
a  confused  variety  of  offences  considered  too  difficult  for 
a  pair  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  to  try  in  Petty  Sessions,  but 
not  sufficiently  serious  to  be  punishable  by  penal  servitude. 
In  certain  districts  the  Recorder,  a  paid  official,  who  must 
be  a  barrister,  exercises  the  same  functions  as  Quarter  Ses- 
sions. Prisoners  accused  of  any  serious  crime  have  a  right 
to  claim  trial  by  jury,  and  for  these  cases  juries  may  be 
called  at  Quarter  Sessions.  Another  function  of  Quarter 
Sessions  is  to  hear  appeals  from  Petty  Sessions.  With  re- 
gard to  this  point  some  criticism  might  be  made.  In  theory 
any  two  Justices  of  the  Peace  constitute  a  quorum.  Two 
Justices  of  the  Peace  are  also  necessary  to  form  a  Court 
for  Petty  Sessions,  except  when  trying  a  short  list  of  of- 
fences which  includes  lotteries  and  cases  of  absconding 
paupers,  when  the  lonely  intellect  of  a  single  Justice  is  con- 
sidered adequate.  It  is,  therefore,  conceivable  that  a 
prisoner  appealing  from  Petty  Sessions  to  Quarter  Sessions 
might  find  his  appeal  was  being  tried  by  the  same  two  Jus- 
tices as  pronounced  the  first  sentence  against  which  he  is  ap- 
pealing. It  is  not  likely,  because,  as  a  rule,  attendance  at 
Quarter  Sessions  is  exemplary,  but  it  does  happen  quite 
often  that  the  two  Justices  who  tried  the  original  case  sit 
as  part  of  this  Court  of  Appeal,  a  result  which  is  obviously 
undesirable.  One  Yorkshire  Bench  appointed  certain  of  its 
members  to  do  appeal  work  only;  a  rather  obvious  reform, 
that  might  well  become  universal.  A  more  serious  barrier 
to  appeals  is  the  fact  that  an  appeal  to  Quarter  Sessions 
costs  £20 ;  which  simply  means  that  for  the  bulk  of  prisoners 
and  suitors  there  is  no  appeal  at  all.  When,  therefore,  the 


THE  LOW  JUSTICE  188 

small  number  of  appeals  are  brought  forward  as  proof  of 
the  complete  satisfaction  of  every  one  with  the  verdicts 
and  sentences  of  Petty  Sessions,  these  facts  have  to  be 
remembered  on  the  other  side. 

Quarter  Sessions  in  the  main  try  only  criminal  cases,  ex- 
cept for  a  few  matters  connected  with  licensing,  rating, 
lunatics,  and  some  small  points  of  local  government.  County 
Courts  try  the  civil  cases  which  may  be  held  to  be  of  much 
the  same  importance  as  criminal  cases  tried  by  Quarter  Ses- 
sions. The  sum  involved  must  not  exceed  £100,  and  when 
it  exceeds  £5  the  litigants  have  a  right  to  claim  a  jury.  In 
a  certain  number  of  cases,  where  the  sum  involved  is  not 
more  than  £500,  the  County  Court  has  the  same  powers  as 
the  High  Court.  All  the  litter  of  petty  debts  to  tradesmen, 
over-due  rent,  servants  suing  for  some  fragment  of  wages 
they  believe  to  be  due  to  them,  and  such  small  matters,  come 
before  the  County  Court.  The  County  Court  is  also  a 
Court  of  Bankruptcy  for  the  provinces.  Cases  of  bank- 
ruptcy in  London  and  the  County  of  Middlesex  come  before 
the  Bankruptcy  Court.  The  County  Court  judge  is  a 
salaried  official  who  must  be  a  barrister.  He  has  no  criminal 
powers  except  to  send  people  to  prison  for  non-payment  of 
debt.  There  is  an  appeal  from  his  decisions  to  the  High 
Court. 


CHAPTER.     XII 
THE     HIGH     JUSTICE 

The  High  Court  consists  of  a  Lord  Chief  Justice  and 
Judges  of  the  King's  Bench ;  of  the  Court  of  Chancery ; 
and  the  Court  of  Probate,  Divorce,  and  Admiralty.  It  sits 
in  London  at  the  Law  Courts,  in  Fleet  Street.  But  Judges 
of  the  King's  Bench  go  about  the  country  "on  circuit'*  to 
try  cases  in  the  provinces.  These  sessions  are  known  as 
the  Assizes,  and  are  accompanied  by  a  good  deal  of  ceremony 
and  formality.  A  Judge  of  the  High  Court  is  appointed 
for  life.  He  can  only  be  removed  from  his  position  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  Parliament  (a  thing  which  has  only  oc- 
curred once,  and  is  unlikely  to  occur  again).  No  sort  of 
threat  or  pressure  can  be  used  against  him  for  any  decision 
he  may  pronounce  unless  he  wrongfully  refuses  a  Writ  of 
Habeas  Corpus,  when  he  is  liable  to  a  fine.  He  may  impose 
any  penalty  permitted  by  the  law,  including  the  death 
sentence,  and  try  any  number  of  civil  cases  of  almost  any 
degree  of  importance.  One  Judge  of  the  High  Court  sit- 
ting either  in  London  or  at  the  Assizes  in  the  country 
deals  with  all  the  serious  crimes,  including  murder,  and  in- 
variably sits  with  a  jury. 

The  present  immune  and  dignified  position  of  Judges  has 
been  built  up  gradually  through  history.  The  early 
Sovereigns  had  no  hesitation  in  dismissing  or  imprisoning 
judges  whose  decisions  were  unpleasing  to  them;  and  parlia- 
mentary governments  who  succeeded  the  kings  in  power 

184 


/ 


THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  186 

were  not  backward  in  doing  the  same.  The  Petition  of 
Right  first  established  their  permanent  appointment,  to  the 
great  advantage  of  their  dignity  and  independence, 

A  prisoner  brought  before  the  High  Court  has  invariably 
had  his  case  sifted  twice,  once  by  Petty  Sessions,  and  once  | 
again  by  the  Grand  Jury,  a  specially  selected  body  of  jury-  ' 
men,  who  go  through  the  cases  of  prisoners  sent  for  trial 
and  reject  those  where  they  consider  the  evidence  insufficient 
for  a  prosecution.  The  sifting  by  "Grand  Jury."  however, 
is  little  more  than  a  formality,  and  the  institution,  which 
is  something  of  an  anachronism,  would  probably  be  better 
dead.  This  passing  through  a  double  sieve  tells  against  the 
prisoner  perhaps  more  than  it  should;  for  the  magistrate 
requires  very  little  evidence  for  a  prima  facie  case  and  Grand 
Juries  are  not  usually  very  critical.  In  the  case  of  murder 
the  prisoner  may  have  been  before  a  third  Court,  namely  a 
Coroner's  Inquest. 

In  all  trials  the  function  of  the  judge  is  to  see  that  no 
irrelevant  evidence  is  given  and  no  bullying  or  misleading 
of  witnesses  is  allowed;  to  sum  up  the  evidence  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  jury,  pointing  out  what  inconsistencies 
there  are,  and  expressing  sometimes  his  opinion  as  to  the 
character  of  the  witnesses ;  and  to  pronounce  sentence  after 
the  jury  have  decided  the  verdict  of  Guilty  or  Not  Guilty, 
which  is  their  function  and  responsibility.  There  is  one  ap- 
peal on  criminal  matters  from  a  Judge  of  the  High  Court 
to  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal  which  consists  of  three  ] 
Judges  of  the  High  Court  sitting  without  a  jury.  This  ' 
Court  can  either  reduce  or  increase  a  sentence,  and  can  hear 
fresh  evidence.  It  can  quash  a  verdict  on  a  point  of  law 
or  procedure  or  on  the  grounds  that  the  judge  has  mis-  j 
directed  the  jury,  or  that  the  verdict  is  against  the  weight 
of  evidence.  In  Scotland  and  in  Ireland  there  is  no  Court 


186  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

of  Criminal  Appeal  and  in  England  it  is  a  comparatively 
modern  institution.  One  limitation  of  its  powers  is  worth 
noticing;  it  cannot  order  a  new  trial. 

This  limitation  is  interesting  because  it  is  based  on  that 
same  principle  that  runs  throughout  the  entire  criminal 
law,  namely,  "no  man  may  be  put  in  peril  twice  for  the 
same  cause."  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  whereas  if  fresh 
evidence  comes  up,  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal  may  revise 
a  verdict  of  guilty  and  cancel  a  sentence  even  after  an  inter- 
val of  years, l  no  acquittal  can  be  reversed,  even  if  conclu- 
sive evidence  of  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner  comes  to  light 
within  a  few  days  of  his  release.  There  have  been  several 
pases  where  the  trial  of  a  prisoner  admittedly  and  obviously 
guilty  has  been  irregular  in  some  small  point;  such  as  that 
a  previous  conviction  has  been  mentioned  during  the  trial. 
Such  a  trial  is  invalid  and  the  sentence  pronounced  also  in- 
valid, so  the  prisoner  is  released.  But  he  has  been  put  in 
peril  nevertheless,  and  can  therefore  not  be  tried  again. 
In  short,  acquittal  is  final  and  conviction  not  invariably  so. 

To  explain  the  present  position  of  the  Court  of  Chancery 
and  Law  of  Equity,  a  little  historical  explanation  is  neces- 

i  One  of  the  most  curious  cases  of  a  belated  vindication  of  Justice 
through  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal  came  to  my  attention  when 
I  was  at  the  Home  Office.  A  prisoner  in  a  remote  part  of  the 
country  had  been  sentenced  to  a  long  term  of  penal  servitude  for 
an  offence  against  a  woman.  Some  years  afterwards  evidence  was 
discovered  which  put  a  different  complexion  on  the  whole  affair.  The 
man  appealed  to  the  Crown  for  a  free  pardon.  But  we  referred  the 
case  to  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal,  which  in  the  light  of  the  new 
evidence,  quashed  the  sentence,  and  the  man  was  set  free.  This  was 
the  first  case,  I  think,  in  which  this  Court  was  used  to  effect  justice 
on  evidence  taken  years  after  the  sentence. 

In  the  case  of  Adolf  Beck,  who  was  declared  innocent  long  after 
he  had  suffered  imprisonment,  all  that  could  be  done  was  for  the 
Crown  to  give  him  a  free  pardon,  which  is,  of  course,  different  to  the 
revision  of  the  verdict  by  Court  of  Law. 


THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  187 

sary.  Common  Law,  which  includes  Criminal  Law,  is  the 
basis  and  main  structure  of  all  the  law  in  England.  Statute 
Law  and  Equity  are  both  of  later  date  and  built  on  to  it. 
Common  Law  is  founded  on  "Use  and  wont,"  i.e.  precedent. 
There  has  never  been  a  time  in  recorded  legal  history  when 
the  pre-existence  of  Common  Law  has  not  been  assumed  and 
acted  on,  even  though  it  may  be  added  to  and  altered. 
There  is,  for  example,  no  law  forbidding  murder  or  compel- 
ling the  payment  of  debts.  The  Statute  Law  merely  defines 
murder  and  the  penalty,  or  what  shall  be  held  as  the  evidence 
of  a  debt  having  been  incurred.  All  Law  Courts  and  Judges 
were  originally  Deputies  of  the  King  and  are  so  in  theory 
today.  The  buildings  familiarly  known  as  the  Law  Courts 
are  headed  on  their  note-paper  "the  Royal  Courts  of  Jus- 
tice." 

But  as  the  Common  Law  with  its  body  of  precedents  and 
rule  or  procedure  grew  more  complicated  and  rigid,  and 
commerce  and  business  also  developed,  the  practice  of  Com- 
mon Law  was  found  too  narrow  to  deal  with  a  large  number 
of  cases.  To  take  a  common  example,  if  an  injury  was 
proved,  all  that  the  Common  Law  could  do  was  to  order 
the  offender  to  pay  damages,  which  in  a  large  number  of 
cases  was  a  quite  inadequate  remedy.  There  grew  up,  there- 
fore, the  custom  of  appealing  to  the  King,  to  give  a  remedy 
outside  the  existing  law  and  according  to  "natural  law  and 
equity."  Such  appeals  the  King  was  accustomed  to  hand 
over  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  deal  with ;  the  Court  dealing 
with  them  became  known  as  the  Court  of  Chancery ;  and 
the  theory  and  rules  under  which  it  carried  on  its  work,  the 
Laws  of  Equity.  (For  needless  to  say  the  theory  of  an 
unfettered  natural  law  did  not  last  very  long.) 

Its  particular  powers  which  it  possessed,  and  which  were 
not  possessed  by  the  Common  Law  were  the  power  to  en- 


188  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

force  specific  performance,  i.e.  to  compel  people  to  do  things 
they  had  promised  to  do;  to  issue  an  injunction,  i.e.  an 
order  to  compel  people  to  abstain  from  doing  things  they 
had  promised  to  abstain  from  doing.  A  large  part  of  its 
work  was  connected  with  estates  administered  by  one  person 
on  behalf  of  another,  a  condition  of  affairs  not  recognized 
by  Common  Law. 

Of  the  century-long  battles  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  with 
the  Courts  of  Common  Law  for  supremacy  in  jurisdiction, 
and  the  sole  right  to  deal  with  certain  branches  of  business, 
this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.  It  suffices  to  say  that  by 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  conflict  had  in- 
volved both  Courts  in  unfathomable  complications  of  pro- 
cedure and  the  helpless  litigant  in  incalculable  expense.  Only 
while  the  "law's  delay"  in  the  common  Law  Courts  was  a 
proverb,  the  delays  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  were  of  the 
impressiveness  of  a  legend,  but  a  legend  with  a  fairly  solid 
foundation;  in  such  a  fact,  for  example,  as  Lord  Eldon 
reserving  judgment  on  a  case  for  ten  years.  It  is  to  this 
period  that  the  satires  of  Dickens  most  particularly  apply. 
One  of  the  commonest  grievances  of  the  public  was  that  it 
was  often  necessary  to  bring  two  cases  on  the  same  matter, 
one  in  the  common  Law  Courts  to  prove  the  injury  and  an- 
other in  the  Court  of  Chancery  to  obtain  a  remedy.  At 
last,  in  the  Judicature  Acts  of  1873-75,  part  of  the  great 
cycle  of  administrative  reforms  which  form  perhaps  one  of 
the  most  lasting  claims  of  the  Victorian  era  on  the  gratitude 
of  subsequent  generations,  the  four  self-contained  and 
"watertight"  Courts  of  previous  generations  were  abolished. 
A  single  High  Court  of  Justice  was  established  with  three 
branches,  King's  Bench,  Chancery,  and  Probate,  Divorce, 
and  Admiralty.  Any  Judge  of  the  High  Court  could  sit 
in  any  one  of  the  three  courts.  Further  the  Court  of  Chan- 


THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  189 

eery  acquired  all  the  powers  of  a  Common  Law  Court ;  and 
it  became  possible  to  invoke  the  Laws  of  Equity  in  the  Court 
of  the  King's  Bench.  Thus  the  Court  of  Chancery  became 
chiefly  distinguished  from  the  other  Courts  by  the  kind  of 
cases  with  which  it  dealt.  These  are  defined  by  the  Judi- 
cature Acts.  Administration  of  the  Estates  of  deceased 
persons,  the  dissolution  of  partnerships,  the  taking  of  part- 
nerships or  other  accounts,  redemption  and  foreclosing  of 
mortgages,  raising  of  portions  or  other  charges  upon  land, 
the  sale  and  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  sale  of  any  prop- 
erty subject  to  any  lien  or  charge,  the  execution  of  trusts, 
charitable  or  private,  the  rectification  or  setting  aside  or 
cancellation  of  wills  or  other  written  instruments,  the 
specific  performance  of  contracts  between  vendors  and  pur- 
chasers of  real  estate,  including  contracts  for  leases,  the 
wardship  of  infants  and  the  care  of  the  estates  of  infants 
are  the  types  of  cases  dealt  with  in  this  Court. 

The  theory  of  a  jury  is  that  out  of  the  general  heap  of 
population  a  handful  of  ordinary  citizens  should  be  gathered 
at  random  to  hear  the  evidence  and  decide  the  case.  In  | 
its  origin  the  jury  had  no  adjudicating  functions  at  all. 
They  were  merely  twelve  good  men  and  true  called  in  by 
accuser  or  accused  to  swear  on  their  oath  that  the  person 
was  either  innocent  or  guilty. 

England  is  the  place  of  origin  of  trial  by  jury,  and  it  / 
is  a  typically  English  institution.  The  Englishman  all 
down  his  history  has  shown  a  rooted  mistrust  of  professional 
persons.  The  highly-trained  Civil  Service  is  subordinate 
to  a  Secretary  of  State  and  a  Parliament  of  amateurs. 
Judges  in  criminal  cases  have  to  have  juries.  Most  of  the 
experts  in  charge  of  different  departments  of  public  life 
are  subject  to  a  lay  watch  dog  or  superintendent  of  some 


190  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

kind  or  other.  In  the  days  when  judges  were  appointed  by 
the  King  and  removable  at  his  pleasure,  the  presence  of  this 
compact  body  of  anonymous  citizens  associated  with  the 
verdict  added  considerably  to  judicial  independence. 

In  theory,  as  has  been  said,  jurymen  are  supposed  to  be 
a  random  collection  of  ordinary  people.  In  the  case  of  a 
coroner's  jury  this  is  more  or  less  so.  But  in  the  case  of 
a  petty  or  ordinary  jury  (petty  in  distinction  to  the  grand 
juries  mentioned  elsewhere)  there  is  a  property  test  high 
enough  to  exclude  the  ordinary  labourer,  and  an  age  limit. 
Certain  professions  are  excluded  also,  such  as  officers  in  the 
army  or  navy,  sea  captains,  servants  of  the  crown  in  other 
capacities,  peers,  doctors,  members  of  the  bar,  and  any 
one  who  is  a  J.  P.  A  special  jury,  which  litigants  are 
obliged  to  have  in  civil  cases,  where  the  sum  involved  is  over 
a  limited  amount,  are  jurymen  with  a  slightly  higher  prop- 
erty qualification;  an  arrangement  which  has  the  odd 
result  that  in  certain  places,  notably  parts  of  London,  a 
very  high  proportion  of  the  special  jurymen  are  licensed 
victuallers.  Apart  from  these  exceptions  the  jury  lists, 
which  may  now  include  women,  are  printed  alphabetically, 
and  at  assize  time  a  collection  of  inconspicuous  people 
whose  names  begin  with  contiguous  letters  assemble  at  the 
Court  and  are  empanelled  to  hear  the  different  cases.  It 
may  be  a  murder  case  of  a  sensational  kind  in  which  the 
entire  country  is  taking  a  breathless  interest.  It  may  be 
a  long  and  highly  technical  case  of  fraud.  In  the  summon- 
ing of  the  persons  liable  to  serve,  the  text  "many  are  called 
but  few  are  chosen"  is  obeyed  very  literally.  The  individual 
may  find  himself  doing  nothing  more  interesting  than  wait- 
ing about  on  the  chance  he  may  be  wanted  for  hours  or 
even  days,  and  be  told  in  the  end  his  services  are  not  re- 
quired but  that  he  is  still  liable  to  serve  at  the  next  assizes. 


THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  191 

A  litigant  or  a  prisoner  or  the  counsel  for  the  Crown 
may  object  to  any  member  or  all  the  members  of  a  jury 
without  giving  any  reason,  in  which  case  the  juror  so  chal- 
lenged has  to  go  and  some  one  else  takes  his  place.  Once 
the  twelve  jurymen  have  been  sworn,  they  may  not  leave 
the  Court  or  the  charge  of  the  officials  to  whom  they  are 
handed  over.  They  are  not  allowed  to  speak  to  any  one 
outside  or  to  any  of  the  witnesses;  and  if  a  juryman  should 
do  so  the  trial  will  be  stopped,  the  entire  jury  dismissed,  a 
fresh  jury  called,  and  the  whole  trial  begun  again.  The 
idea  is  that  the  jury  are  not  to  hear  anything  about  the 
case  except  what  is  said  before  them  on  oath.  To  attempt 
to  influence  or  threaten  a  member  of  a  jury  is  contempt  of 
Court  and  may  be  punished  with  imprisonment. 

And  in  the  hands  of  this  undistinguished  body  of  men  the 
decision  of  the  most  complicated  cases  involving  the  evidence 
of  technical  experts,  or  the  honour  of  famous  men,  or  the 
liberty  or  life  of  an  accused  person,  is  laid.  A  jury  in 
England  has  not  the  same  powers  as  in  France,  where  crimes 
and  penalties  are  elaborately  graduated  and  the  precise 
grade  of  offence  of  which  the  prisoner  is  found  guilty  deter- 
mines his  sentence.  In  England  this  is  left  almost  entirely 
to  the  judge.  But  what  the  old  books  call  "the  deadly 
stroke"  of  Guilty  or  Not  Guilty  (the  only  two  alternatives 
allowed  in  criminal  cases  in  England)  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
jury. 

The  Coroner  is  a  survival  from  the  days  before  central- 
ized government.  The  methods  by  which  he  is  appointed 
vary  from  place  to  place.  Some  Coroners  are  appointed  by 
the  Crown.  Some  are  appointed  by  people  who  have  in- 
herited or  purchased  the  "franchise"  or  power  of  appoint- 
ment. Some,  possessing  the  franchise,  have  appointed  them- 
selves. There  is  no  uniform  standard  of  professional  at- 


192  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

tainments,  so  that  it  is  hardly  surprising  if  coroners  vary 
widely  in  ability,  and  Shakespeare's  gibe  at  "Crowner's 
quest  law"  has  not  altogether  lost  its  sting. 

The  function  of  the  Coroner  at  the  present  day  is  to  in- 
quire into  the  causes  of  sudden  death ;  where  the  deceased 
has  not  been  seen  by  a  doctor  within  a  week,  or  where  the 
doctor  asks  for  it,  or  when  a  person  is  found  dead  or  dies 
in  a  public  institution.  The  main  object  of  course  is  to 
detect  immediately  if  a  murder  has  been  committed,  or  if 
there  is  any  neglect  of  public  duty  which  results  in  acci- 
dents. Coroners  are  assisted  by  a  jury,  which  may  consist 
of  more  than  twelve  persons  and  of  whom  twelve  at  least 
must  be  agreed  on  the  verdict.  The  verdicts  are  of  almost 
unlimited  variety,  and  there  exists  in  one  of  the  public  of- 
fices a  list  of  "freak"  verdicts,  indicative  of  what  may  hap- 
pen when  an  untrained  Coroner  directs  an  untrained  jury. 
For  some  of  these  errors  the  state  of  medical  knowledge 
at  the  date  is  more  responsible  than  the  defects  of  the  in- 
dividual Coroner.  For  example,  for  many  generations  the 
cause  of  the  deaths  in  certain  hospitals  was  solemnly  re- 
corded as  "want  of  breath."  The  verdict  now  phrased 
"Natural  causes"  used  to  be  "Died  by  the  visitation  of 
God,"  a  judgment  once  amended  by  a  perplexed  jury  into 
"Died  by  the  visitation  of  God  under  very  suspicious  cir- 
cumstances." But  nothing  but  native  muddle-headedness 
can  have  been  responsible  for  the  verdict  on  a  child  six 
months  old,  "Found  dead,  no  evidence  to  show  whether  born 
alive." 

It  is  the  duty  of  any  one  finding  a  dead  body  to  inform 
the  Coroner.  So  well  has  this  duty  penetrated  into  the 
minds  of  the  population  that  some  years  ago  a  Somerset- 
shire quarryman,  who,  in  the  course  of  his  work  laid  open 
the  tomb  of  a  prehistoric  man,  promptly  informed  the 


THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  193 

Coroner  of  the  discovery  of  the  crouching  mummy  it  con- 
tained. The  procedure  of  a  Coroner's  inquest  is  as  follows. 
The  Coroner  appoints  a  day  and  place  for  the  inquest  as 
soon  as  he  learns  of  the  death.  In  most  towns  there  is  a 
Coroner's  Court,  but  in  the  country  the  inquest  (a  word 
merely  meaning  inquiry)  is  held  in  any  convenient  large 
room,  very  often  at  an  inn.  The  jury  has  to  "view  the 
body,"  a  proceeding  which  does  not  usually  enlighten  them 
much ;  witnesses  are  called  to  give  evidence  as  to  the  accident, 
or  the  state  of  health  in  body  or  mind  of  the  dead  person ; 
the  Coroner  sums  up  and  the  jury  give  their  verdict  with 
or  without  comment  or  "rider."  Procedure  is  sometimes 
very  lax  and  informal  at  an  inquest,  and  this  perhaps  gives 
the  occasion  for  most  of  the  criticisms  directed  against  them. 

If  the  verdict  is  given  of  murder  or  manslaughter  against 
a  particular  person,  the  Coroner  issues  a  warrant  and  the 
Crown  is  obliged  to  prosecute,  whatever  the  opinion  of  the 
Public  Prosecutor  on  the  case  may  be. 

The  institution  of  an  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  sudden 
death  is  obviously  very  desirable  and  necessary,  and  acts 
as  a  check  to  murder  and  a  barrier  to  acts  of  violence  by 
government  agents  or  powerful  people.  Most  of  the  in- 
quiries are  fair  and  effective,  and  efficiently  done.  There  is, 
indeed,  very  little  chance  of  mistake  in  a  large  number  of 
accident  cases.  There  have  been,  however,  several  notorious 
examples  where  evidence  has  been  admitted  or  questions  put 
that  would  never  have  been  allowed  in  a  court  of  law. 
Such  was  the  inquest  on  Mr.  Bravo,  who  was  poisoned,  when 
the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  murder  against  Mrs.  Bravo, 
who  was  afterwards  tried  and  acquitted,  but  died  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  strain  she  had  undergone.  Here  the  deluge 
of  suspicion,  rumour,  and  the  putting  of  leading  questions 
amounted  to  a  scandal.  It  is  also  sometimes  complained 


194,  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

that  there  are  not  enough  inquests  held,  and  that  poisoners 
escape  punishment  for  this  reason.  It  certainly  seems 
strange  that  all  Coroners  cannot  be  of  the  standard  which 
some  Coroners  attain,  or  at  any  rate  that  there  should  be 
no  standard  of  legal  and  medical  knowledge  required  of  them. 
The  English,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  a  law-abiding  people, 
and  there  is  very  little  organized  resistance  to  the  action 
of  the  police  or  the  judgments  of  the  Courts.  The  funda- 
mental reason  undoubtedly  is  that  the  laws  and  verdicts 
are  held  to  be  just  and  the  Judges  impartial  and  incor- 
ruptible. The  public  may  disagree  with  any  particular 
verdict,  but  they  believe  in  the  good  faith  of  the  tribunal. 
Where  this  belief  in  the  justice  of  a  particular  law  does  not 
prevail,  there  have  been  cases  of  widespread  and  stubborn 
resistance  to  it.  The  most  recent  case,  perhaps,  is  the 
resistance  to  the  vaccination  laws,  which  finally  obliged  the 
Government  to  give  way.  The  most  remarkable  was  un- 
doubtedly the  resistance  of  the  Quakers  or  the  Society  of 
Friends  to  the  marriage  laws  of  their  country.  Until  well 
on  into  the  nineteenth  century  the  only  people  licensed  to 
perform  legal  marriages  in  England  were  clergymen  of  the 
Established  Church.  It  used  to  be  a  phrase  among  Dis- 
senters, "Never  been  into  a  church  except  to  be  married." 
The  Quakers  would  not  make  even  this  solitary  act  of 
conformity,  but  held  a  ceremony  of  their  own  in  their  own 
meeting-house.  This  ceremony,  though  held  binding  by  the 
parties,  had  no  legal  validity,  and  the  children  born  of  such 
unions  were,  in  law,  illegitimate.  The  Quakers  got  round 
many  of  the  inconveniences  of  such  a  state  of  affairs  with 
the  help  of  lawyers  of  their  own  community,  who  saw  to 
it  that  all  wills  or  settlements  or  other  property  arrange- 
ments were  properly  in  order.  Beyond  this  concession  they 
simply  ignored  the  law  of  the  land,  and  this  went  on  for 


THE  HIGH  JUSTICE  195 

nearly  two  hundred  years,  until,  as  a  result  of  protests 
made  chiefly  by  non-Quakers,  they,  together  with  other 
religious  bodies,  were  allowed  to  celebrate  marriages. 

English  law  is  peculiar  in  the  fact  that  it  is  not  unalter-  / 
able.  In  theory,  every  Judge  is  bound  by  precedent,  i.  e. 
the  decisions  of  previous  Judges.  But  besides  precedent 
there  also  exists  a  number  of  general  maxims  scattered 
through  judgments  and  statutes  which  a  Judge  may  sud- 
denly invoke  in  a  particular  case,  and  with  their  aid  cheer- 
fully sweep  into  the  rubbish  heap  what  up  to  that  date  had 
been  regarded  and  acted  on  as  the  law  of  the  land.  A  case 
occurred  recently  in  the  House  of  Lords.  An  objection  was 
made  to  the  will  of  a  Roman  Catholic  which  contained  a 
bequest  of  money  for  masses  to  be  said  for  the  soul  of  the 
testator.  It  was  pleaded  that  such  a  bequest  had  been 
repeatedly  declared  illegal  by  the  Courts,  and  undoubtedly 
it  had.  The  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  Birkenhead,  allowed 
the  bequest ;  and  delivered  a  long  judgment  to  the  effect  that 
emancipation  was  emancipation  and  that  if  a  particular 
body  of  people  had  been  given  all  the  privileges  of  citizens, 
those  privileges  must  be  held  to  include  the  right  to  bequeath 
their  money  with  as  much  freedom  as  other  citizens,  and 
thus  in  the  space  of  half  an  hour  he  swept  away  what  ] 
had  been  regarded  as  unquestioned  law  for  more  than  a  / 
century. 

Just  as  the  great  body  of  law  is  held  to  be,  it  suffers  from 
several  notorious  defects.  For  one  thing,  it  is  not  easy 
even  for  an  educated  person  to  understand.  Common  Law, 
vesting  largely  upon  precedent,  the  stringing  up  of  prece- 
dents into  a  chaplet  of  conclusion,  is  a  process  only  possible 
to  experts.  Nor  is  Statute  Law  much  better,  for,  upon 
examination,  it  is  often  found  to  consist  largely  of  references 
to  earlier  statutes,  involving  much  wearisome  research  to 


196  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

the  unwary  inquirer.  Housing  Acts  and  Acts  relating  to 
the  position  of  employer  and  employed  are  conspicuous  for 
this  defect.  Re-coding,  or  the  statement  of  the  present 
position  of  the  law  as  established  by  volumes  of  Acts  amend- 
ing each  other,  and  strings  of  precedents  reaching  back  for 
at  least  a  century,  is  desperately  needed,  but  such  a  work 
would  take  the  whole  lives  of  a  number  of  experts,  and  to 
be  effective  ought  to  be  a  constant  function  of  the  State. 
Most  people  do  not  "go  to  law"  and,  therefore,  do  not 
realize  the  necessity  for  it,  which  means  that  no  Govern- 
ment is  aware  of  any  pressure  on  them  to  initiate  such 
a  re-coding.  Consequently  the  work  is  put  off  and  each 
amending  Act  makes  matters  worse. 

In  theory  the  Courts  are  open  to  every  subject.  In 
practice  the  power  to  obtain  redress  is  limited  by  the  power 
to  pay  legal  expenses.  That  perhaps  ought  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  only  characteristic  of  English  Law.  It  was  in  a 
modern  French  play  that  a  character  observed  "Justice  is 
free,  but  the  measures  for  obtaining  it  are  not."  But,  to 
judge  by  proverb  comedy,  the  problem  of  legal  expenses 
would  seem  to  have  nonplussed  civilization  from  its  begin- 
nings. In  criminal  cases  some  foreign  countries  have  an 
official  known  as  a  public  Defender,  who  undertakes  the 
defence  'of  poor  prisoners.  But  even  that  does  not  cover 
the  case,  for  example,  of  the  small  shopkeeper  or  pro- 
fessional man  libelled  by  the  more  scurrilous  and  protean 
type  of  newspaper,  whose  business  arrangements  are  spe- 
cially constructed  so  as  to  leave  not  a  wrack  behind  available 
for  either  costs  or  damages  if  a  verdict  is  obtained  against 
them.  The  unfortunate  person  libelled  may,  under  present 
conditions,  be  ruined  if  he  does  not  bring  an  action,  and 
weight  himself  with  a  crippling  debt  if  he  does. 


PART  IV 

THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE 
NATION 


CHAPTER    XIII 
WESTMINSTER 

The  British  Parliament  meets  at  Westminster;  in  that 
immense  imitation  Gothic  building  which  stretches  for  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  along  the  side  of  the  River  Thames,  in 
the  heart  of  London.  It  is  a  building  of  modern  construc- 
tion, designed  on  large  lines,  but  miserably  mutilated  by 
the  action  of  the  Parliament  of  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago, 
which  became  scared  by  the  money  being  spent  upon  it,  and 
completed  its  construction  in  a  crude  and  cheap  manner. 
In  consequence,  when  examined  in  detail,  the  heavy  repeti- 
tion of  similar  mechanical  design  is  judged  and  condemned 
by  that  great  product  of  the  real  Gothic  spirit,  the  Abbey 
of  Westminster,  from  which  it  is  only  separated  by  a  narrow 
street.  But  there  remain  still  a  dignity  and  splendour 
about  the  design  as  a  whole  seen  from  afar,  and  especially 
with  the  water  washing  round  it,  and  reflecting  its  two 
great  towers  and  high  roofs  and  pinnacles.  In  a  scene 
familiar  in  picture  and  photograph  throughout  the  Eng- 
lish speaking  world,  it  appears  as  a  not  unworthy  cen- 
tre for  the  most  astonishing  "Empire"  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

Ingress  is  by  a  multitude  of  entrances  into  a  labyrinth 
of  halls,  corridors,  committee  rooms,  lobbies,  staircases, 
whose  complete  exploration  would  take  many  days  or  weeks. 
These  all,  however,  surround  and  have  some  function  re- 
lating to  the  central  core  or  heart  of  the  Government.  At 

199 


200  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

one  end  is  a  comparatively  small  Chamber  surrounded  by 
galleries,  and  with  seating  accommodation  for  some  three 
or  four  hundred  persons,  cut  off  from  the  fresh  air,  and 
from  all  external  views,  and  lighted  by  high  windows  near 
the  roof.  The  ornament  is  severely  plain,  and  the  accom- 
modation consists  of  long  rows  of  seats  of  dull  green  leather 
arranged  like  a  college  chapel  or  church  choir,  each  half 
facing  the  other.  This  is  the  House  of  Commons. 

You  pass  out  through  the  swinging  doors  of  the  main 
entrance,  through  an  inner  lobby  reserved  for  Members  and 
their  friends,  down  a  long  and  broad  corridor,  broken  half- 
way by  an  outer  lobby,  to  which  any  of  the  public  have  free 
access.  The  corridor  terminates  in  other  folding  doors 
through  which  you  pass  into  a  Chamber  similar  in  design, 
cut  off  in  a  similar  fashion  from  the  open  air,  with  the  same 
high  windows,  but  elaborately  ornamented  with  gold  and 
colour,  and  red  leather  seats  instead  of  green.  Behind  a 
barrier  at  the  end  of  it  is  a  plain  gilt  red  chair  which  is 
only  occupied  by  the  King  when  he  visits  Parliament.  This 
is  the  House  of  Lords.  These  two  between  them  form  the 
High  Court  of  Parliament,  which  is  the  effective  Govern- 
ment of  England. 

As  you  enter  by  the  main  doors  of  the  House  of  Commons 
you  find  on  the  left  hand  the  Members  who  usually  wish  to 
be  reckoned  as  supporting  the  Government  of  the  day,  on 
the  right  hand  those  who  wish  to  oppose  it.  Straight  in 
front  is  a  bare  open  space  separating  the  combatants.  And 
at  the  end  of  this  is  a  box  or  table  at  which  sit  facing  you 
two  or  three  officials  of  the  House  in  wigs  and  gowns,  with 
books  in  front  of  them  to  guide  them  on  points  of  procedure 
which  may  be  raised.  In  front  of  this  rests  the  great  silver 
Mace,  which  is  the  symbol  of  the  authority  and  functioning 
of  the  House  of  Commons — the  legitimate  child  of  that 


WESTMINSTER  201 

"bauble"  which  Cromwell  ordered  his  soldiers  to  "take 
away,"  and  by  so  doing  demonstrated  that  the  House  of 
Commons  no  longer  existed. 

Behind  this  table  is  the  throne  of  the  "Speaker,"  sur- 
mounted by  a  great  canopy,  and  towering  high  above  the 
heads  of  the  sitting  Members.  Every  day,  before  the 
religious  ceremony  and  subsequent  business  of  the  House 
begins,  the  Speaker  and  the  Mace  Bearer,  in  solemn  pro- 
cession, enter  the  Chamber,  and  convert  a  place  which,  with- 
out their  presence,  has  been  the  scene  of  sight-seeing  by 
strangers  or  the  casual  conversation  of  Members,  into  a 
solemn  Session  of  the  House  of  Commons.  And  the  de- 
parture of  the  Speaker  and  Mace  at  the  end  of  each  Session 
denotes  that  the  House  is  adjourned. 

The  Speaker  is  at  once  the  ruler  and  servant  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  He  is  not  a  member  of  the  Government,  nor 
appointed  by  the  Government.  He  is  a  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment elected  by  free  vote  of  his  fellow  Members  to  his  high 
office  at  the  beginning  of  every  Parliament.  His  function 
is  indeed  in  part  to  assist  in  getting  Government  business 
through,  but  that  is  on  the  assumption  that  the  getting  of 
Government  business  through  is  desired  by  a  majority 
of  Members  of  the  House  of  which  he  is  the  representative. 
A  more  important  part  of  his  work  is  to  see  that  the  Govern- 
ment does  not  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  the  House  as  a 
whole,  and  especially  to  protect  the  rights  of  each  individual 
private  Member,  who  may  be  obnoxious  to  the  Government, 
against  Government  overbearance. 

The  House  of  Commons  makes  its  own  rules  regulating 
its  methods  of  carrying  on  its  business.  These  rules  are 
called  Standing  Orders.  It  can  and  does  alter  its  rules 
from  time  to  time,  to  suit  its  own  convenience.  The  Govern- 
ment can  propose,  to  the  House,  to  alter  these  rules,  but 


202  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

has  no  power  in  itself  to  alter,  violate,  or  suspend  any  one 
of  them,  neither  can  the  Speaker  alter  the  rules.  His  power 
is  to  administer  them.  He  often  gives  decisions  against 
the  Government  when  the  Government  wittingly  or  un- 
wittingly has  attempted  some  breach  of  them. 

Apart  from  these  rules,  he  has  wide  powers  in  the  conduct 
of  business.  He  can  call  individuals  to  order  for  disorderly 
conduct.  He  can  report  to  the  House  of  Commons  when 
a  Member  has  disobeyed  his  ruling,  and  the  House  of 
Commons  then  invariably  suspends  the  Member  from  its 
deliberations,  and  the  Member  has  to  leave  the  House  or  be 
forcibly  removed,  and  remain  outside  it  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  time.  The  choice  of  the  Members  to  carry  on 
debate  rests  entirely  with  the  Speaker,  and  when  more  than 
one  Member  rises,  he  can  choose  any  of  them  he  pleases  to 
speak.  And  although  in  practice  a  new  Member  has  always 
a  right  of  place  for  his  maiden  speech,  and  a  Member  of 
the  Government,  if  he  wishes  to  speak,  or  a  Member  of  a 
former  Government  on  the  Opposition  bench,  if  he  wishes  to 
reply,  is  called  upon  before  a  private  Member,  in  theory 
the  Speaker  need  observe  no  such  rules.  And  in  consequence 
he  could,  if  he  chose,  largely  hamper  a  man's  career  for 
whom  he  had  a  dislike  by  always  calling  upon  other  Mem- 
bers first,  and  giving  him  no  opportunity  of  exhibiting  his 
talents.  Although  no  man  worthy  to  be  called  to  such 
high  office  would  so  abuse  it,  in  practice  the  Speaker  does 
by  wise  choice  actually  regulate  debate;  pitting  doughty 
antagonists  one  against  the  other,  arranging  at  certain  times 
for  Government  to  reply  to  Opposition  in  a  crowded 
Chamber;  at  others,  when  he  thinks  they  have  had  enough 
of  it,  calling  on  well-known  bores  or  prosy  speakers,  of 
whom  there  are  always  plenty  anxious  to  do  him  this  service, 
whose  appearance  causes  the  House  to  empty,  and  whose 


WESTMINSTER  203 

deplorable  periods  create  that  sense  of  weariness  and  fatigue 
which  causes  the  House  to  desire  to  get  rid  of  that  question 
and  come  on  to  something  more  lively.  So  that  by  this 
mere  power  of  selecting  speakers,  he  can  assist  in  the  for- 
warding of  business.  And  he  can  thus  help,  even  apart 
from  the  use  of  that  power  which  is  vested  in  him  by  the 
House  (called  the  Closure),  of  inviting,  after  application  of 
a  Member,  the  House  itself  to  say  whether  it  has  had  enough 
of  it,  and  deciding,  by  a  majority  in  which  more  than  a 
hundred  Members  vote  "Yes,"  to  bring  the  discussion  of 
some  particular  question  summarily  to  an  end. 

The  Speaker  is  also  the  representative  in  person  of  the 
House  of  Commons :  of  the  whole  assembly  of  elected 
Members,  independent  of  the  Government.  He  heads  the 
Commons  when  they  are  called  to  the  House  of  Lords  to 
hear  the  King's  Speech  at  the  opening  or  conclusion  of  each 
Session,  or  at  any  time  when  the  assent  of  the  King  is  given 
to  new  laws.  If  in  any  way  the  "privilege"  of  the  Commons 
is  violated,  the  protest  is  made  by  him.  If  evil-doers  defy 
the  House  on  these  matters  he  can  call  them  to  the  "bar  of 
the  House,"  rebuke  them,  or  even  incarcerate  them  in  prison 
in  the  "Clock  Tower"  of  the  House. 

The  House  of  Lords  has  no  such  elected  President,  and 
suffers  thereby.  The  Lord  Chancellor  does  indeed  sit  in 
robes,  uneasily  and  without  dignity,  on  a  kind  of  large, 
red-covered  hassock,  popularly  termed  the  Woolsack,  and 
invites  the  Members,  after  discussion  is  ended,  to  record 
their  decisions.  But  he  has  no  control  over  debate.  Un- 
like the  Speaker,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Government,  and 
often  takes  active  part  as  a  partisan.  He  does  not  repre- 
sent the  House  of  Lords  as  a  whole,  apart  from  the 
Government  of  which  he  is  a  member.  Any  noble  lord  may 
arise  and  address  the  House  when  another  sits  down,  and 


204?  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

indeed  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  several  noble  lords  address- 
ing the  House  at  once,  as  often  happened  in  representative 
Chambers  in  mid-Europe  and  elsewhere.  In  practice,  those 
who  wish  to  speak  give  in  their  names  to  the  Government 
officials,  and  these  arrange  the  order  of  the  speaking.  But 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  two  or  three  noble  lords  arising 
to  speak,  and  each  refusing  to  give  way  to  the  other;  when 
the  only  course  to  be  adopted  is,  not  the  interference  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  but  the  House  itself  actually  interrupting 
its  business  to  decide  by  vote  which  of  these  rival  orators 
they  desire  to  hear.  And  this  rather  ridiculous  incident 
has  actually  happened  in  the  past. 

Around  these  two  central  Chambers  are  various  accessories 
which  go  to  swell  the  bulk  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster. 
There  is  a  series  of  committee-rooms  which  are  continually 
in  use  during  the  Parliamentary  Sessions.  There  are 
reading-rooms,  dining-rooms,  smoking-rooms,  libraries,  rooms 
for  Ministers.  In  one  part  a  whole  separate  suite  is  set 
apart  for  the  accommodation  of  the  representatives  of  the 
newspapers.  There  are  rooms  for  the  use  of  the  officials 
of  Parliament,  and  for  the  officials  of  the  great  Party 
organizations.  On  the  land  side  of  Parliament,  standing 
between  the  building  of  active  life  and  the  Abbey,  which  is 
the  home  of  its  greatest  dead,  stands  the  great  banqueting- 
hall  of  William  Rufus,  in  which  have  been  exhibited  so  many 
of  the  great yscenes  of  the  pageant  of  British  History.  Here 
Burke  impeached  Warren  Hastings,  and  Pym  Strafford. 
Here  Charles  I  was  sentenced  to  death  for  war  against 
Parliament  and  his  people.  Here  lay  in  state  for  public 
respect  the  body  of  Gladstone. 

The  whole  place  is  full  of  memories;  and  in  unbroken 
maintenance  of  a  great  tradition  stands  unrivalled  by  any 


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WESTMINSTER  205 

centre  of  Gevernment  in  the  world.  Under  the  present 
Parliament  building  you  can  see  the  cellars  in  which  Guy 
Fawkes  once  stored  his  powder,  designing  to  seal  the  fate 
at  least  of  one  Parliament  for  all  time.  At  the  end  of  the 
great  entrance  you  may  see  the  very  spot  where  the  famous 
five  Members  attacked  by  Charles  I  fled  by  a  back  door  to 
the  postern  gate  to  the  river,  and  so  out  into  the  country 
to  raise  the  great  Civil  War.  Under  a  glass  case  in  the 
Library  is  the  journal  of  the  House  of  Commons  of  one 
historic  day,  open  at  the  page  where  it  is  cut  suddenly  short 
as  Cromwell  entered  the  Chamber  with  his  soldiers,  and 
commanded  the  destruction  of  the  representative  and  his- 
toric Parliament  of  England.  Cromwell  died,  and  Parlia- 
ment returned.  Other  rulers  have  tried  later  to  challenge 
the  supremacy  of  Parliament,  and  all  have  failed.  The 
historic  words  of  a  prophecy  of  three  hundred  years  ago 
remain  unchallenged  and  unchallengeable.  No  man  ever  set 
himself  to  break  Parliament  but  Parliament  broke  him  in 
the  end. 

Although  power  is  thus  concentrated  in  this  great  and 
complicated  building,  the  apparatus  of  Government  fills 
other  vast  erections  in  its  neighbourhood.  Each  of  these 
contains  a  Ministry  carrying  out  some  definite  Government 
function  allotted  to  it  by  Parliament.  At  the  head  of  each 
is  a  Minister,  who  is  responsible  to  Parliament  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  work  of  that  Ministry  in  accordance  with 
its  wishes.  These  Ministers,  collected  together  as  one  body 
called  the  Cabinet,  and  under  the  Chairmanship  of  a  Prime 
Minister,  carry  on  the  Government  from  day  to  day.  And 
none  of  the  thousands  of  officials,  from  the  men  of  high 
distinction  and  great  talent  at  the  top  to  the  humblest  clerk 
or  charwoman  at  the  bottom,  can  perform  any  work  at  all 


206  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

except  under  the  responsibility  of  that  Minister,  who  has 
to  take  the  praise  or  blame  for  anything  they  do. 

In  the  older  days  the  responsibility  of  each  Minister  to 
Parliament  for  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  Parliament  was 
largely  an  individual  and  personal  one.  The  Cabinet  was 
a  loosely  joined  body  of  Ministers,  many  of  whom  even 
advocated  different  policies,  or  attacked  the  speeches  of  each 
other.  In  those  days  the  House  of  Commons  could  censure 
if  they  pleased  the  action  of  one  Minister,  and  so  compel 
him  to  resign,  without  touching  the  condition  of  the  Govern- 
ment as  a  whole.  But  today  the  idea  of  collective  respon- 
sibility of  the  administration  has  replaced  that  of  the 
individual.  The  act  of  any  one  member  of  the  Government 
is  assumed  to  be  the  act  of  the  whole ;  and  a  successful  vote 
of  censure  on  his  work  by  the  House  of  Commons  would 
probably  involve  the  resignation  of  the  whole  Government. 
In  actual  practice  a  Government  which  desires  to  remain  in 
power,  and  finds  that  one  of  its  members  has  done  something 
which  the  House  of  Commons  does  not  approve,  generally 
solves  the  difficulty  by  persuading  that  member  to  'resign 
before  coming  to  a  definite  challenge  to  its  own  existence. 

Stand  between  the  Palace  of  Westminster  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  Abbey  on  the  other,  and  look  through  the 
broad  spacious  avenue  of  Whitehall  and  its  termination 
in  the  lions  and  fountains  of  Trafalgar  Square,  to  the  great 
column  with  the  statue  of  Nelson  upon  it  at  the  end.  You 
have  practically  within  your  vision  the  whole  apparatus  of 
the  Central  Government  of  England  and  the  British  Empire. 
At  the  end,  confronting  each  other,  are  the  Ministries  of 
Imperial  defence,  the  Admiralty  and  the  War  Office.  One 
glances  down  Whitehall,  by  the  Treasury,  the  Home  Office, 
the  Ministry  of  Education  and  the  Ministry  of  Health,  the 
Board  of  Trade,  the  Foreign,  Indian,  and  Colonial  Offices, 


WESTMINSTER  207 

and  other  lesser  operative  centres.  In  a  little  turning  to  the 
left,  between  the  Home  Office  and  the  Treasury,  in  houses 
completely  overshadowed  by  the  vast  bulk  of  Government 
Offices  confronting  them,  are  the  official  residences  of  the 
Prime  Minister  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  in 
that  "Downing  Street"  which  has  become  an  historic  name 
all  through  the  world.  Halfway  down  this  avenue  of  huge 
Government  buildings  still  stands  the  little  banqueting  hall 
which  is  the  last  remnant  of  the  old  Palace  of  Whitehall; 
with  the  inscription  on  one  of  its  windows  recording  the  fact 
that,  through  this,  Charles  I  went  to  his  death  on  the  scaffold 
for  challenging  the  right  of  Parliament  to  rule.  That  same 
Charles  I  in  triumphant  equestrian  statue,  in  front  of 
Nelson's  column,  looks  down  the  whole  of  this  historic  street 
to  where,  with  his  back  turned  towards  a  Parliament  which 
he  once  destroyed,  Oliver  Cromwell  gazes  heavily  and  in- 
scrutably on  the  statues  of  the  transitory  great  which  adorn 
Parliament  Square.  And  in  the  midst  of  this  busy  and 
crowded  thoroughfare,  occupied  perpetually  by  the  ever- 
changing  perplexities  of  the  Government  of  the  living,  stands 
today  the  simple,  plain  monument  to  those  whose  devotion 
and  sacrifice  alone  saved  from  destruction  the  people  for 
whose  benefit  this  Government  is  designed:  the  Cenotaph 
inscribed  to  the  immortal  memory  of  "The  Glorious  Dead." 

The  Government  of  the  day  which  controls  all  this 
enormous  machinery,  is  entirely  the  creation  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  It  is  dependent  on  the  House  of  Commons 
for  its  creation,  preservation,  and  all  the  blessings  of  its 
life.  On  its  first  appearance  it  has  to  be  assured  of  the 
support  of  a  majority  of  the  Members  of  that  House;  and 
if  at  any  time  in  its  career  those  Members  withdraw  their 
support  by  carrying  a  "Vote  of  Censure"  against  it,  that 


208  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

career  comes  abruptly  to  an  end.  Strictly  speaking,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  the  Government,  but  the  head  of  it,  who  has 
to  retain  the  confidence  of  the  House.  He  is  entrusted  by 
the  King  with  the  work  of  carrying  on  "the  King's  Govern- 
ment." In  theory  the  King  could  send  for  any  Member  of 
the  House  of  Lords  or  House  of  Commons  and  ask  him  to 
undertake  the  work.  In  practice,  until  lately,  he  has  found 
it  impossible  to  make  the  effort  successful,  except  when 
entrusted  to  the  recognized  leader  of  one  of  the  great  two 
Parties — Liberal  and  Conservative — into  one  of  which  most 
of  the  Members  have  been  collected  during  the  past  hundred 
years.  If,  however,  parties  break  up  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment into  a  number  of  groups',  this  function  of  inviting  the 
leader  of  one  group  and  not  of  another  may  come  to  have 
as  much  importance  here  in  England  as  it  has  when  ex- 
ercised in  France  today  by  the  President  of  the  Republic. 

But  Parliament  has  no  choice  at  all  in  the  allotment  of 
the  various  offices  of  State,  which  are  entirely  in  the  gift  of 
the  Prime  Minister.  He  not  only  selects  the  chief  Parlia- 
mentary heads  of  Departments — the  Lord  Chancellor,  the 
Secretary  for  War,  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  and 
the  rest — he  personally  appoints  every  single  Minister  of 
the  Government,  down  to  the  humblest  Under-Secretary, 
and  the  Under-Secretary  is  appointed  regardless  of  the  wish 
of,  and  often  in  direct  antipathy  to,  the  Chief  whom  he  is 
to  serve.  It  is  true  that  the  Government,  as  a  whole,  thus 
appointed,  has  to  be  given  and  to  retain  the  confidence  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  But  it  is  unlikely  that  this  confi- 
dence would  be  impaired  by  the  fact  that  one  particular 
Member,  however  popular,  is  left  out,  or  one,  however  un- 
popular, is  included.  To  the  limit  of  a  not  entirely  unreason- 
able exercise  of  patronage,  the  Prime  Minister  is  a  dictator. 

Ministers  may  be  chosen  from  the  Lords   or  Commons. 


WESTMINSTER  209 

For  some  offices  indeed  they  must  be  Members  of  the  one 
House;  for  others,  of  the  other.     Thus  the  Lord  Chancellor^ 
must  be  in  the  former,  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
and  the  Home   Secretary  in   the  latter.     Other   heads    of 
Departments  may  be  in  either. 

The  Prime  Minister  chooses  the  principal  of  his  colleagues 
to  form  his  "Cabinet."  It  is  only  recently  that  this  Cabinet 
has  received  any  official  recognition  at  all.  In  form,  it  is 
merely  a  Committee  of  His  Majesty's  Privy  Council  advising 
the  Prime  Minister.  Until  recently  it  maintained  that 
position  as  "advisory"  only.  Its  members  gave  advice,  and 
the  Prime  Minister  acted  upon  it  or  not,  as  he  pleased. 
No  votes  were  taken.  No  record  remained  of  the  proceed- 
ings. Often  at  the  conclusion  of  a  meeting  the  members 
separated  without  the  slightest  idea  which  of  the  various 
advices  offered  at  such  a  meeting  the  Prime  Minister  would 
accept. 

If  a  Minister  objected  to  any  such  policy,  his  only  re- 
course was  to  resign.  If  he  did  not  resign,  he  was  compelled 
to  defend  a  policy  he  may  have  violently  opposed;  and  he 
could  never  tell  the  world  outside  that  he  had  opposed  it, 
for  he  was  under  an  inviolable  oath  of  secrecy  never  to 
divulge  such  differences.  In  a  famous  Prime  Minister's 
verdict  it  was  necessary  that  the  Cabinet  should  hang  to- 
gether lest  they  should  hang  separately. 

Later,  the  Cabinet  has  developed  towards  an  Executive 
Council.  A  Secretary  to  the  Cabinet  has  been  appointed  (a 
course  which  would  almost  make  Gladstone  or  Disraeli  turn 
in  their  graves),  and  regular  "minutes"  of  the  proceedings 
are  taken.  It  is  possible  that  Government  in  England  may 
even  develop  into  Government  by  a  Committee,  a  thing  un- 
known in  England  since  the  Government  of  England  first  was. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  "His  Majesty's  Opposition" 


210  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

is  recognized  as  much  of  an  entity  as  "His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment." It  is  led  in  the  main  by  men  who  have  previously 
been  Ministers  of  the  Crown,  and  who  sit  on  the  front  bench 
facing  the  members  of  the  Government.  It  has  no  influence 
at  all,  except  through  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
upon  the  activities  of  the  various  Departments  of  the 
Government  machine.  If  it  is  treated  with  respect,  this 
is  largely  because  it  has  one  day  governed  the  country  and 
will  probably  do  so  again,  and  because  in  normal  times  it 
represents  that  half  of  the  voters  who  are  always  against 
any  particular  Government  of  the  day.  The  supporters 
of  Government  and  Opposition  are  enrolled  in  parties,  which 
maintain  an  immense  organization  in  every  town  and  village 
of  the  country.  This  organization  is  largely  financed  by 
mysterious  and  secret  "Party  Funds,"  to  which  the  wealthy 
members  of  each  Party  are  supposed  to  subscribe,  for  dis- 
interested love  of  their  cause,  or  for  other  reasons.  In  the 
case  of  the  Labour  Party,  the  funds  are  largely  obtained  by 
a  small  levy  per  head  on  all  the  members  of  the  Trades 
Unions  who  do  not  protest  against  such  a  levy. 

Each  Party  machine  has  at  the  head  of  it  a  "Chief  Whip" 
(as  the  Patronage  Secretary  to  the  Treasury  and  similar 
functionary  in  the  Oppositions  is  called),  with  various 
"Under-Whips,"  who  are  supposed  to  maintain  discipline 
in  the  Party,  ensure  by  flattery  or  fear  that  Members  attend 
for  important  divisions,  placate  their  Members  by  the 
settling  of  grievances  or  the  promise  of  rewards,  and  gener- 
ally superintend  the  work  inside  and  outside  Parliament  of 
keeping  their  Party  in  power  or  getting  it  back  to  power  if 
they  have  lost  it  for  a  time. 

The  House  of  Lords  is  immortal :  unless  Parliament  itself 
decrees  its  change  or  extinction.  It  is  recruited  from  the 
heirs  of  peerages,  on  the  death  of  previous  holders  of  the 


WESTMINSTER  211 

title.  It  is  recruited  also  by  numerous  creations  of  peer- 
ages, made  by  the  King  on  the  advice  of  his  Prime  Minister. 
If  these  creations  ceased,  the  number  of  peers  would  steadily 
decrease,  and  in  time  the  whole  body  would  dwindle  and  die 
away.  The  House  of  Commons  is  immortal  except  for  those 
brief  periods  between  the  dissolution  of  one  particular  body 
of  elected  persons  and  the  election  of  its  successors.  It 
cannot,  under  present  law,  escape  the  process  of  such  a 
change  for  longer  periods  than  five  years.  It  cannot  even 
ensure  itself  that  scanty  duration  of  life.  At  any  time 
during  its  existence  the  Prime  Minister  may  advise  the  King1 
to  dissolve  it,  and  call  its  successor,  and  if  good  reason  is 
apparent  for  such  a  course,  this  advice  will  be  invariably 
obeyed. 

In  ordinary  opinion  Parliament  is  a  place  where  men 
make  the  laws  of  the  country.  To  the  cynic,  it  is  a  talking 
shop  or  debating  society  where  the  loudest  and  longest 
speaker  triumphs ;  in  work  which  is  always  futile  and  never 
properly  done.  And  both  these  facts  are  in  part  true.  The 
House  of  Commons,  in  general  with  the  assent,  but  some- 
times without  it,  of  the  House  of  Lords,  does  make  laws  and 
alter  laws,  and  abolish  laws,  and  is  perpetually  engaged  in 
this  work.  And  the  House  of  Commons  is  a  debating  society 
in  which,  through  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  for 
many  hours  of  the  day,  the  continual  drip  of  talk  never 
deases.  Members  come  and  Members  go,  and  visitors  do 
likewise.  Sometimes  the  Chamber  is  filled  with  four  or  five 
hundreds  of  Members,  and  the  galleries  crowded.  Or  the 
Chamber  is  filled  with  four  or  five,  and  the  galleries  empty. 
But  within  the  allotted  hours  of  its  sitting,  summer  or  winter, 
in  hot  weather  or  cold,  through  tea-time,  through  dinner- 
time, and  far  towards  midnight,  the  visitor  who  looks  down 


212  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

upon  the  scene  below  can  always  find  somebody  talking,  and 
some  one  waiting  to  stand  up  and  talk  when  he  sits  down. 
And  every  word  of  this  mileage  of  talk  is  solemnly  taken 
down  by  shorthand  writers,  printed  at  the  public  expense, 
and  published  in  neat  blue  paper-covered  volumes  (called 
for  short  "Hansard"),  which  any  citizen  of  the  country 
may  freely  purchase,  in  order  that  he  may  be  cheered  or 
saddened  by  reading  what  talk  has  gone  on  in  his  Parlia- 
ment the  previous  day.  This  everlasting  stream  of  loqua- 
city is  only  broken  at  intervals  by  "divisions,"  in  which  the 
debate  is  interrupted  in  order  to  record  some  definite  deci- 
sion upon  the  point  concerning  which  Members  have  been 
talking,  before  they  pass  to  similar  talk  on  another  subject. 

In  theory  this  is  a  debate  before  an  audience.  The  talkers 
are  supposed  to  convince  by  argument  that  they  are  right 
and  their  opponents  are  wrong;  and  the  audience  are  sup- 
posed to  make  up  their  minds  one  way  or  the  other  under  the 
influence  of  these  persuasive  appeals.  On  actual  practice 
things  are  quite  otherwise.  The  talk  continues  before  a 
small  body  of  Members  scattered  about  the  Chamber,  most 
of  whom  are  only  remaining  within  it  in  order  that  each 
may  leap  up  and  be  called  upon  to  talk  when  the  prevailing 
talker  has  exhausted  his  energy  and  his  argument. 

When  all  are  exhausted,  or  the  appropriate  time  has 
come  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  for  the  stoppage  of  talk 
on  that  subject,  or  the  taking  of  a  decision,  bells  are  rung 
all  over  the  labyrinth  of  buildings,  and  Members  come  flock- 
ing, in  numbers,  from  smoking-rooms,  lobbies,  dining-rooms, 
and  terrace ;  most  of  whom  have  never  heard  a  word  of  the 
debate,  and  have  but  the  dimmest  ideas  of  what  it  is  all 
about.  But  they  are  shepherded  by  their  Party  officials, 
in  whom  they  trust,  into  one  of  the  two  corridors,  by 
walking  through  which,  and  having  their  names  ticked  off 


WESTMINSTER  213 

by  tellers  appointed  for  the  purpose,  they  vote  cither  "yes" 
or  "no"  for  the  subject  which  is  supposed  to  be  under  con- 
sideration. They  then  return  to  lobbies,  committee-rooms, 
smoking  and  dining-room,  and  terrace,  having  definitely 
created  out  of  nothing  a  little  piece  of  what  will  some  day 
be  the  law  of  the  land.  And  the  old  talkers,  refreshed  by 
the  interval,  or  new  talkers  specially  interested  in  the  new 
piece  of  nothing  which  is  destined  to  become  law,  start  again 
that  debate,  which  is  only  interrupted  for  a  time  by  the 
cry  towards  midnight,  "Who  goes  home?"  but  which  will 
be  resumed  next  day,  and  continue  its  dull  or  brilliant  prog- 
ress as  long  as  Parliament  endures. 


CHAPTER    XIV 
THE     WORK      OF     PARLIAMENT 

(fl)     THE   REDRESSING    OF    GRIEVANCE 

(b)  THE   CONTROL   OF   EXPENDITURE 

(c)  THE   MAKING   OF   LAWS 

Parliament  is  something  more  than  a  machine  to  make 
laws,  or  a  debating  society.  It  has  two  other  functions  of 
far  greater  importance  in  the  life  of  the  community.  These 
functions  affect  the  conditions  and  happiness  of  every  family 
in  the  nation.  They  are  of  such  importance  that  if  Parlia- 
ment made  no  laws  at  all  it  would  still  be  far  the  most  im- 
portant assembly  in  the  State. 

(a)     THE   REDRESSING    OF    GRIEVANCE 

The  first  of  these  is  the  control  by  the  people,  through 
the  elected  representatives  of  the  people,  of  the  machine  by 
which  this  people  is  governed.  That  machine  is  called  the 
Executive,  and  any  or  every  act  of  that  Executive  can  be 
challenged,  approved,  or  condemned  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  if  condemned,  it  has  to  be  changed. 

There  are  many  great  democratic  states  in  which  the 
Executive  is  altogether  outside  the  Assembly  which  makes 
the  laws.  In  America,  for  example,  the  people  elect,  by 
the  widest  possible  popular  vote,  a  Dictator,  whom  they 
call  the  President,  who,  in  national  as  distinct  from  State 
affairs,  has  nearly  absolute  power  for  four  years,  as  far  as 
all  the  administration  of  the  Central  Government  is  con- 

214 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  215 

cerned.  He  chooses  his  ministers  from  outside  Parliament. 
They  are  responsible  to  him  and  not  to  Parliament,  and  he 
is  not  responsible  to  Parliament,  and  he  can  carry  on  the 
administration  of  the  country  how  he  pleases,  subject  only 
to  the  limitations,  on  the  one  hand,  of  a  challenge  to  his 
action  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice,  as  being  un- 
constitutional ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  its  impeachment  by 
overwhelming  majorities  of  the  Elected  Chambers  as  being 
intolerable  and  not  to  be  endured. 

But  the  Parliament  of  the  British  Isles  recognizes  no  such 
Dictator,  either  in  the  Prime  Minister,  or  the  Cabinet,  or 
in  both  combined.  And  every  grievance  of  every  citizen, 
however  humble,  in  which  the  Central  Government  may 
be  directly  or  indirectly  concerned,  may  be  brought  for 
redress  before  the  House  of  Commons,  to  be  justified  or 
remedied  by  the  responsible  Minister  in  that  Assembly. 

Two  activities  indeed  of  what  people  recognize  as  Govern- 
ment, Parliament  has  no  control  over,  and  to  that  extent 
its  impotence  is  limited.  It  cannot  alter  the  decision  of  a 
Judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  although  it  has  power 
by  a  big  majority  to  demand  the  removal  of  the  Judge  who 
has  given  that  decision.  And  it  cannot  alter  the  decision 
of  the  Courts  of  Justice  on  the  meaning  of  a  law  that  it 
has  passed,  even  although  that  meaning  is  interpreted  by 
the  Judges  in  the  exact  opposite  of  what  Parliament  in- 
tended that  meaning  should  be.  But  it  can  find  redress  for 
this  grievance  by  passing  another  law,  altering  the  words 
of  the  Statute;  and  it  can  pass  an  Act  of  Indemnity,  by 
which  anything  done  by  its  servants  and  declared  by  the 
Judges  illegal  through  such  interpretation  shall  be  relieved 
of  all  otherwise  consequent  pains  and  penalties. 

The  old  maxim  that  the  King  can  do  no  wrong  remains 
as  true  today  of  the  sovereign  power  of  Parliament  repre- 


216  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

sented  by  the  signature  of  the  constitutional  monarch  as 
when  an  absolute  Emperor  could  do  unchallenged  any  act 
which  pleasure  or  caprice  urged  him  to  perform.  Parlia- 
ment can  do  no  wrong.  No  judge  or  higher  authority  can 
challenge  or  deny  any  decisions,  however  absurd  or  mon- 
strous those  decisions  may  be  even  to  the  very  people  who 
elected  those  Members  of  Parliament.  In  America  the  laws 
as  they  are  passed  can  always  be  challenged  as  violating 
the  written  constitution  of  the  Federation  of  States.  And 
if  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice  declares  that  they  are  in 
violation  of  it,  they  are  annulled,  and  do  not  become  law 
and  cannot  become  law  unless  the  constitution  itself  is 
changed.  But  in  Britain  there  is  no  written  constitution, 
and  Parliament  can  do  exactly  as  it  pleases  during  the  years 
it  remains  in  office.  It  could  pass  a  law  that  every  red- 
headed man  should  be  hanged,  and  the  courts  of  law  would 
have  to  carry  out  its  bidding,  and  hang  every  man  whose 
hair  was  proved  to  be  red.  It  could  pass  a  law  that  every 
man  who  now  had  no  property  should  receive  the  property 
of  those  who  had  some,  who  henceforth  would  have  none. 
It  could  destroy  a  whole  country  by  the  use  of  the  army 
and  navy,  which  are  under  its  control.  It  could  eject 
great  portions  of  the  British  Empire  and  hand  them  over 
to  other  territories,  or  to  govern  themselves. 

This  absolute  power  rests  with  the  House  of  Commons 
because  it  has  the  power  of  passing  laws  even  if  the  House 
of  Lords  rejects  them  in  three  successive  Sessions.  It  could 
even  withhold  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Court  of  Justice, 
by  itself  decreeing  sentences  on  any  man  without  judicial 
aid.  There  is  an  historic  example  of  such  supplanting  by 
Parliament  of  justice  by  law  in  the  treatment  of  Straff ord 
by  the  Long  Parliament  of  1641.  x 

1  Strafford  was  first  impeached  for  high  treason  by  the  Commons 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  217 

And  there  is  nothing  in  the  constitution  today  to  pre- 
vent Parliament  from  passing  a  "Bill  of  Attainder"  com- 
mitting to  prison  or  death  or  unspecified  offence  Mr.  As- 
quith  or  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  Sir  Edward  Carson  or  Mr. 
Robert  Smillie;  and  if  to  prison,  deliberately  overriding 
Habeas  Corpus,  as  Habeas  Corpus  was  deliberately  over- 
ridden by  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Act  during  the  War. 

Its  power  is  limited  by  only  two  things;  the  first,  that 
the  House  of  Commons  by  statute  is  elected  for  only  five 
years,  and  then  another  Parliament  is  elected  which  c'an 
reverse  the  decisions  of  its  predecessor.  But  even  here 
in  theory  there  is  no  such  ultimate  limitation.  For  a 
House  of  Commons  itself  could  introduce  a  Bill  that  it 
should  sit  for  ever,  and  if  passed  three  Sessions  running  the 
Bill  would  become  law,  even  if  opposed  each  time  by  the 
House  of  Lords.  No  one  could  appeal  against  such  a 
decision  to  any  constitutional  authority.  Therefore  its  two 
limitations  become  in  fact  only  one.  This  is  the  consent  of 
the  governed;  or  rather  the  willingness  or  unwillingness  of 

before  the  House  of  Lords  sitting  as  a  judicial  body.  After  eighteen 
days  of  trial  in  Westminster  Hall,  it  was  obvious  that  the  impeach- 
ment would  fail,  and  no  legal  charge  of  treason  could  be  proved. 
The  Commons  then  dropped  the  Impeachment  and  introduced  a  "Bill 
of  Attainder,"  substituting  a  Statute  for  a  trial — in  fact,  assassination 
legal  form.  The  Solicitor-General  (then  on  the  side  of  the  Com- 
mons) utilized  arguments  not  uncharacteristic  of  the  methods  adopted 
by  succeeding  Law  Officers  of  the  Crown.  "In  that  way  of  Bill,"  he 
argued,  "private  satisfaction  to  each  man's  conscience  was  sufficient, 
although  no  evidence  was  given  in  at  all."  "We  give  laws  to  hares  and 
deer,"  he  declared,  "because  they  are  beasts  of  the  chase;  but  it  was 
never  accounted  either  cruel  or  foul  play  to  knock  foxes  and  wolves 
on  the  head,  as  they  can  be  found,  because  they  are  beasts  of  prey." 
Under  such  an  Act,  and  supported  by  such  arguments  Strafford  was 
executed.  It  is  true  that  the  Bill  in  those  days  required  a  deliberate 
and  not,  as  today,  an  automatic  Royal  Assent;  but  the  king  was 
Charles  I. 


218  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

any  section  of  the  community  to  carry  out  any  active  or 
passive  resistance  to  the  laws  which  Parliament  has  passed. 
Such  a  passive  resistance  was  carried  out  some  twenty 
years  ago  by  a  respectable  class  of  citizens  against  an 
Education  Act  of  the  Parliament  of  the  day,  and  entirely 
failed  to  prevent  that  Act  being  put  into  operation.  Such 
an  active  resistance  was  planned  by  the  League  or  Coven- 
ant of  Ulster.  This  League,  in  conjunction  with  a  large 
number  of  persons  of  wealth  and  social  position  in  England, 
planned  an  armed  rebellion  if  an  Act  was  passed  in  England 
which,  if  unpopular  with  many  and  even  passionately  hated 
by  all,  was  a  perfectly  legal  exercise  of  Parliament's  author- 
ity. Whether  this  act  of  rebellion  would,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
have  overthrown  the  authority  of  Parliament,  or  whether 
the  people  would  have  rallied  in  defence  of  their  representa- 
tive assembly  against  "Direct  Action,"  as  they  once  rallied 
in  defence  against  kings,,  remains  for  ever  conjectural. 
For  the  sudden  catastrophe  of  the  European  War  swept  at 
once  rebellion  and  resistance  out  of  the  minds  of  men. 
But  the  precedent  has  evidently  not  passed  unmarked. 
There  are  suggestions  of  other  movements  from  below  in 
which  laws  may  be  defied  or  decisions  of  Parliament  over- 
thrown by  threats  of  violence  and  direct  action,  rather  than 
by  peaceful  methods  of  constitutional  government.  And  the 
House  of  Commons,  after  having  in  the  past,  in  a  struggle 
lasting  many  hundreds  of  years,  resisted  any  attempt  to 
challenge  or  break  its  authority  from  above  by  king  or 
nobles,  may  be  passing  in  the  future  into  a  period  of  no 
less  desperate  a  struggle  against  sectional  forces  from  be- 
neath, which  will  endeavour  to  undermine  its  authority  and 
defy  its  power. 

The    right    of    general    inquiry    into    the   action    of   the 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  219 

Government  machinery  takes  two  forms.  The  first  is  that 
of  question  and  answer,  which  can  be  fortified  by  debate  if 
the  House  so  pleases,  and  if  necessary  by  definite  censure  on 
the  Government  of  the  day.  The  second  is  the  old  historic 
method  asserted  first  against  the  King  and  won  by  war, 
now  against  a  Government  which  is  itself  the  Parliament's 
creation;  that  grievances  shall  be  redressed  before  the 
money  is  granted,  necessary  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the 
State. 

In  the  first  case  the  proceedings  are  simple.  Four  days 
a  week,  while  Parliament  is  sitting,  some  fifty  minutes  of 
its  first  business  is  reserved  as  a  time  for  questioning  Min- 
isters. Any  Member  of  Parliament  can  hand  in  to  the  Clerk 
of  the  Table  in  writing  a  question  of  any  kind  dealing  with 
small  things  or  great,  addressed  to  any  Minister  of  the 
Crown.  The  only  limit  to  the  nature  of  questions  is  of  de- 
cency and  good  taste,  or  as  in  themselves  involving  confiden- 
tial revelations  which  the  Speaker  may  refuse  to  have  put 
on  the  paper  at  his  discretion,  or  questions  which  are  not 
relevant,  and  cannot  be  made  relevant  to  the  work  of  any 
department  of  Government. 

In  practice  almost  any  event  can  be  brought  within  the 
ambit  of  some  or  other  of  the  Government  Departments. 
Thus,  such  questions  as  who  won  the  Derby,  or  the  ad- 
ventures of  a  particular  murderer,  or  the  actions  of  some 
local  authority  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Central 
Government,  would  seem  to  be  impossible.  But  a  little  in- 
genuity on  the  part  of  the  Member  can  make  almost  any- 
thing relevant,  for  in  the  one  case  he  can  ask  if  the  attention 
of  the  Minister  for  Health  had  been  drawn  to  the  conduct 
of  the  Municipality  of  A  in  doing  so-and-so,  and  what 
action  he  proposes  to  take  in  the  matter.  Or  in  the  second, 
he  can  ask  the  Home  Secretary,  who  is  responsible  for  Law 


220  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

and  Justice,  whether  he  has  seen  the  report  that  a  murder 
has  been  committed  at  B,  and  what  information  the  Govern- 
ment can  give  of  action  to  assure  the  arrest  of  the  alleged 
culprit.  Or  in  the  third,  which  indeed  is  a  borderland  case 
and  rather  more  difficult,  some  such  query  as  whether  the 
fact  that  a  certain  horse  at  long  odds  against  him  won  a 
public  race,  has  not  caused  a  serious  loss  to  a  large  number 
of  citizens  calculated  to  promote  a  breach  of  the  peace, 
and  whether  he  proposes  to  take  any  action  in  the  matter. 

In  any  case  the  Order  Paper  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
that  is  the  daily  agenda  issued  for  the  convenience  of  mem- 
bers of  the  work  and  business  of  each  day,  is  found  to  con- 
tain a  long  list  of  questions  numbered  and  arranged  in 
order,  which  have  been  handed  in  more  than  two  days  be- 
fore, with  the  names  of  the  Members  asking  them  and  the 
names  of  the  Ministers  answering  them.  You  pass  in  the 
list  from  subjects  so  varied  as  the  dismissal  of  a  postmistress 
in  the  Orkney  Islands  or  the  withholding  of  an  old  age  pen- 
sion from  an  old  lady  of  uncertain  age  (sworn  by  various 
reliable  witnesses  as  fifty,  sixty,  seventy,  or  eighty)  in  a 
village  in  County  Clare,  to  an  inquiry  when  the  Government 
intends  to  try  the  Kaiser,  or  to  make  peace  with  Russia,  or 
carry  out  vast  projects  of  Imperial  change. 

Each  and  all  are  treated  with  the  same  apparent  defer- 
ence. The  Speaker  calls  Mr.  Smith,  whose  name  is  affixed 
to  question  number  one.  Mr.  Smith  rises  and  says :  "Num- 
ber One,  Sir,  of  (say)  the  Home  Secretary,"  and  sits  down. 
The  Home  Secretary  rises  from  the  Government  bench  and 
says  curtly  or  pleasantly  "No,  Sir,"  or  "Yes,  Sir,"  or  "The 
answer  is  in  the  negative,"  or  "I  will  have  inquiries  made 
upon  the  subject."  Or,  if  there  is  a  real  scandal  behind  the 
question  which  he  desires  above  all  things  to  refrain  from 
openly  discussing,  he  will  say  in  the  most  friendly  fashion: 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  221 

"I  am  much  obliged  to  my  honourable  friend  for  calling 
my  attention  to  this  matter"  (though  he  himself  may  be 
black  at  heart  at  the  unpleasant  disturbance  thus  threat- 
ened), "and  I  will  be  very  glad  if  he  will  communicate  with 
me  in  private  on  the  subject."  Or  if  his  mind  is  quite  empty, 
and  he  has  nothing  at  all  to  say,  he  will  answer  briskly :  "I 
will  make  further  inquiries  on  this  matter,"  and  so  sit  down, 
although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  made  no  inquiries 
into  this  matter  at  all.  If  nothing  happens  after  these  en- 
lightening replies,  the  Speaker  calls  on  the  Member  who 
has  number  two  on  the  paper,  and  so  on,  through  three,  four, 
five,  and  the  rest,  until  the  end. 

Were  questions  nothing  more  than  this,  however,  the  task 
of  a  Minister  defending  his  Department  would  be  easy. 
For  with  two  days  of  notice,  the  Secretary  to  the  Minister 
conveys  all  these  questions  which  are  going  to  be  asked  of 
him  to  the  members  of  his  Department  who  are  concerned, 
and  these  concoct  the  answers,  which  at  the  appropriate 
time  are  read  out  to  the  House  of  Commons.  There  is  little 
prospect  under  such  a  system  of  Parliament  ever  obtain- 
ing the  truth  on  any  subject  concerning  which  the  Minister 
wishes  that  the  truth  shall  not  be  known.  Indeed,  in  one 
recent  Committee's  examination  of  alleged  harsh  treatment 
of  a  Government  servant,  it  was  revealed  that  the  Minister 
himself  had  laid  down  the  definite  distinction  between 
"truth"  in  the  abstract  and  "Government  truth"  as  modified 
for  a  Parliamentary  answer. 

But  the  Members  of  Parliament  have  a  more  potent 
weapon  in  the  power  they  possess  of  cross-examination  of 
Ministers  upon  their  answers,  in  the  form  of  what  are  called 
supplementary  questions.  Thus,  a  Minister  may  have 
thought  he  has  turned  a  sharp  corner  by  a  clever  evasion 
prepared  for  him,  and  has  sat  down  complacently  after  a 


222  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

non-committal  reply ;  when  immediately  up  jump  from  every 
corner  of  the  House  Members  suddenly  apparently  seized 
with  emotions  of  anger  or  pain,  who  shower  in  queries  as 
"Arising  out  of  that  answer,  are  we  to  understand  that, 
etc.?"  or  "Is  it  conceivable  that,  etc.?"  Or  "Does  he  in- 
tend to,  etc.?"  And  so  on.  This  is  the  real  game  of  hide- 
and-seek  which  provides  the  sport  and  enjoyment  to  Parlia- 
ment at  the  time,  and  to  the  public  outside  as  they  read  it 
in  their  newspapers.  So  that  the  hunting  of  a  Minister  in 
this  manner  on  some  not,  perhaps,  important  question,  oc- 
cupies more  space  in  these  newspapers  than  the  report  of 
hours  of  the  speeches  in  debate.  A  Minister  may  indeed 
sit  dumb  and  glowering  in  face  of  his  persecutors,  and  no 
power  can  make  him  reply ;  as  did  Mr.  Churchill  on  one 
historic  occasion,  when,  as  all  the  Members  were  shouting 
"Answer,  answer!"  the  Speaker  pacified  the  rising  tumult 
by  informing  the  House  that  it  was  impossible  to  draw  blood 
out  of  a  stone.  Or  he  may  take  refuge  in  the  reply:  "I 
must  have  notice  of  that  question,"  as  a  late  Under-Secrc- 
tary  for  Foreign  Affairs  was  instructed  to  do  by  his  Chief 
who  was  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  thus  replied  so  auto- 
matically that  the  time  came  when  a  member  inquired  with 
an  air  of  innocence:  "Are  we  to  understand  that  the  answer 
just  given  means  Yes  or  No?"  To  which  the  Minister  re- 
plied "I  must  have  notice  of  that  question,"  to  his  sub- 
sequent confusion  and  the  no  small  enjoyment  of  his  col- 
leagues. 

But  the  majority  of  Ministers  enter  into  the  game  with 
spirit,  and  it  is  largely  in  his  action  in  such  a  game  that  a 
Minister  is  judged  by  his  fellow-members.  If  he  is  invariably 
good-tempered  and  cool,  if  he  can  judge  between  the  bore 
and  the  self-advertiser  whom  he  may  snub,  and  the  honest  or 
popular  Member  whom  he  must  praise,  if  he  can  show  more 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  223 

knowledge  of  his  subject,  and  thus  turn  upon  his  persecutors 
with  answers  that  leave  them  silent,  and  if  in  awkward  sub- 
jects he  can  combine  an  appearance  of  innocence  with  re- 
plies which  the  questioners  only  after  later  cool  considera- 
tion find  have  evaded  all  the  points  at  issue,  and  told  them 
nothing,  he  is  regarded  with  respect  and  admiration  as  one 
who  is  "playing  the  game"  with  cleverness  and  courtesy.  ' 
If  he  blusters,  bullies,  threatens,  is  fumbling  or  clumsy  in 
his  replies,  he  is  looked  upon  with  disfavour  by  the  House 
of  Commons.  And  if,  becoming  expansive,  he  blurts  out 
some  unpleasant  truth  under  cross-examination  which  had 
been  carefully  concealed  in  his  prepared  reply,  he  is  looked 
on  with  disfavour  by  his  permanent  officials,  and  with  some  ~.  ^^ 
contempt  by  his  colleagues.  That  is,  of  course,  in  cases 
in  which  it  is  desired  that  the  truth  shall  be  avoided,  i.e.  ^J£ 

where  there  is  a  real  grievance  against  a  Department, 
where  mistakes  have  been  made,  or  where  there  are  divisions 
of  opinion  in  a  Government  on  policy,  which  the  Government 
is  desirous  above  all  things  of  concealing. 

But  there  are  numbers  of  questions  which  members  ask 
at  the  request  of  their  constituents,  in  which  the  telling  of 
the  truth  does  no  harm  to  anybody.  And  there  are  others 
which  Members  ask  in  order  to  keep  their  names  before  the 
public,  and  especially  before  their  constituents,  to  show 
they  are  in  attendance  at  their  duties,  and  active  and  vigi- 
lant for  the  public  good.  And  there  are  others  which  mem- 
bers ask  in  supplementary  questions  to  show  their  quickness 
and  cleverness  to  their  own  colleagues  in  the  House,  or  to 
excite  admiration  by  the  good  jokes  or  the  bad  jokes  which 
make  the  House  of  Commons  amused,  and  are  reported  in 
the  Press  with  "Laughter"  added,  and  otherwise  would  not 
be  reported  at  all. 

The  question,  however,  is  but  the  first  line  of  attack.     If 


224.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

the  House  of  Commons  is  dissatisfied  with  the  answer  on 
an  important  topic  it  can  fall  back  on  the  second.  Any 
Member  may  rise  at  the  close  of  questions,  and  either  out 
of  the  reply  given  to  a  question  then  put,  not  on  the  paper, 
on  some  urgent  matter  suddenly  arisen,  or  on  some  answer 
given  by  a  Minister  to  a  question  on  the  paper,  he  may  ask 
permission,  in  the  technical  phrase,  "to  move  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  House  on  a  matter  of  urgent  public  importance." 
If  the  Speaker  thinks  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  as 
a  whole  (and  his  function  here  is  to  interpret  the  feeling 
of  the  House),  the  subject  is  not  urgent,  or  is  not  a  matter 
of  public  importance,  he  will  refuse  to  read  out  the  motion, 
giving  perhaps  his  reasons.  If  otherwise,  he  reads  the  mo- 
tion, and  then  inquires  if  the  Member  has  the  leave  of  the 
House.  If  forty  Members  then  rise  in  their  seats  and  sig- 
nify their  support  by  standing  silent,  the  Speaker  announces 
that  he  has  that  leave,  and  the  discussion  is  then  put  down 
for  debate  at  8.15  of  the  same  day,  sweeping  away  all  busi- 
ness which  otherwise  would  have  been  taken  at  this  time. 

This  motion  is,  in  effect,  a  vote  of  censure  on  some  par- 
ticular Minister  or  on  the  Government  as  a  whole.  At  the 
appointed  time  the  mover  and  his  friends  make  their  attack, 
and  the  Government  and  its  friends  reply.  The  Minister 
may  satisfy  his  assailants,  when  the  motion  is  withdrawn; 
or  the  still  unsatisfied  assailants  may  press  the  motion  to 
a  division  either  as  a  protest,  or  with  the  hope  of  beating 
the  Government  on  such  a  division.  The  House  "adjourns" 
naturally  in  conformance  with  its  standing  orders  at  a 
certain  hour  every  night,  and  no  one  is  any  the  worse. 
But  if  the  House  is  compelled  unnaturally  thus  to  adjourn 
on  the  motion  of  a  Member  attacking  the  Government,  it 
is  interpreted  as  a  vote  of  censure  on  the  Minister  or  on 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  225 

the  Government,  and  the  Minister  or  Government  is  com- 
pelled to  resign. 

A  third  line  of  attack  is  independent  of  question  and 
answer,  and  also  whether  the  question  be  of  urgent  public 
importance.  Any  Member  of  Parliament  may  have  printed 
on  the  order  paper  a  notice  that  he  proposes  to  call  atten- 
tion to  some  matter  of  grievance  or  criticism,  and  to  move 
a  resolution.  The  resolution  will  be  in  practice  a  vote  of 
censure.  He  may  even,  as  some  Members  have  done,  put 
down  a  motion  attacking  a  ruling  of  the  Speaker  himself, 
or  the  Chairman  of  Committees,  when  he  thinks  either  of 
these  have  given  unfair  decisions.  Unfortunately  for  the 
private  Member,  his  indignation  can  only  explode  harmlessly 
to  the  extent  of  a  paper  resolution,  for  the  Government 
has  control  over  the  time  of  the  House.  And  although  he 
will  repeatedly  rise  and  call  attention  to  the  motion  stand- 
ing in  his  name,  and  ask  for  a  day  for  its  discussion,  the 
Prime  Minister  will  as  repeatedly  and  blandly  reply  that 
the  pressure  of  Government  business  makes  the  giving  of 
such  time  at  present  impossible.  If,  however,  the  Leader 
of  the  Opposition  in  the  past,  or  one  of  the  Leaders  of  the 
Oppositions  in  the  future,  asks  for  a  day  to  propose  a 
formal  vote  of  censure  on  the  Government,  or  on  some  im- 
portant policy  it  has  adopted,  that  authoritative  challenge 
to  its  continued  support  by  a  majority  of  the  House  is 
invariably  accepted,  and  a  debate  takes  place  full  of  pas- 
sion and  bitterness,  in  which  the  enemies  of  the  Government 
endeavour  to  demonstrate  that  no  such  combination  of 
foolishness  and  wickedness  has  ever  tormented  England  be- 
fore, and  the  friends  of  the  Government  reply  by  demon- 
strating that,  considering  the  terrible  nature  of  their  task, 
and  the  unfair  criticism  to  which  they  have  been  subjected, 


226  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

\     no  Government  has  ever  proved  so  successful  in  the  steering 
of  the  ship  of  State  into  its  desired  haven. 

The  second  apparatus  of  examining  grievances  is  in  the 
discussion  of  Estimates  in  the  Committee  of  Supply.  The 
meaning  of  those  Estimates  and  the  function  of  that  Com- 
mittee I  will  explain  later.  Sufficient  here  to  say  that  when 
Government  is  asking  Parliament  to  provide  the  money  for 
the  carrying  on  of  the  work  of  any  department,  the  House 
of  Commons,  first  through  a  committee,  and  second  when 
the  decision  of  its  committee  is  reported  to  the  House,  has 
opportunities  given  it  to  attack  any  suspected  delinquencies 
in  that  department.  The  common  form  is  to  propose  that 
the  salary  of  the  Minister  responsible  be  reduced  by,  say, 
fifty  pounds ;  and  under  such  a  proposal  any  action  of  any 
one  in  that  Department  can  be  attacked,  for  the  Minister 
is  responsible  for  all.  In  the  War  Office  vote,  for  example, 
the  quality  and  nature  of  the  clothing  of  the  Army,  or  the 
food  and  accommodation  of  the  soldiers ;  in  the  Navy,  the 
number  of  ships  built;  in  the  Foreign  Office,  treaties  made 
or  not  made;  in  the  Home  Office,  the  inefficiency  or  insuf- 
ficiency of  factory  or  mine  inspectors ;  and  in  other  offices 
similar  policies  and  administration  may  be  thus  attacked. 
If  the  motion  is  carried,  the  unfortunate  Minister  does  not 
lose  fifty  pounds  of  his  salary.  He  loses  all  his  salary, 
and  his  colleagues  also.  For,  unless  they  attempt  to  re- 
verse what  they  may  interpret  as  a  snap  vote,  unrepresenta- 
tive of  the  real  opinion  of  the  House,  they  must  resign. 
And  in  any  case  a  succession  of  such  snap  votes  would  en- 
sure their  resignation. 

(6)     THE    CONTROL    OF    EXPENDITURE 

If  the  first  function  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  is  thus 
to  ensure  the  ventilation  and  the  redress  of  grievances,  the 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  227 

second,  no  less  important,  is  the  control  of  the  State 
finance — the  raising  and  the  spending  of  money.  This  is  a 
function  of  the  House  of  Commons  alone,  it  having  been 
decided  by  recent  legislation  that  the  House  of  Lords  shall 
have  no  voice  at  all  in  the  matter.  The  raising  of  money 
is  done  by  a  Bill  passed  yearly,  called  the  Finance  Bill,  or, 
in  a  popular  term,  the  Budget.  It  presents  little  difference 
in  its  progress  from  other  Bills  passed  by  Parliament, 
and  I  shall  describe  it  in  the  section  dealing  with  Parlia- 
ment as  a  law-making  instrument.  But  the  spending  of 
the  public  money  by  the  Government  is  controlled  by  a 
system  which  is  completely  different  from  its  normal  legisla- 
tive activity.  It  does  this  by  a  method  which  appears 
complicated,  but  which,  when  examined  and  understood,  is 
found  to  be  the  simplest  in  the  world. 

Government  money  is  spent  through  Government  depart- 
ments, and  Parliament  only  grants  to  each  department  the 
money  for  its  expenses  for  one  year.  Any  money  which  has 
been  voted  to  a  department  for  the  expenses  of  the  year, 
and  has  not  been  spent  at  the  end  of  the  financial  year —  . 
that  is,  by  March  31st — has  to  be  relinquished  by  the  de- 
partment, and  cannot  be  carried  forward  into  the  coming 
year.  Money  can  also  only  be  spent  by  the  department  for  j 
the  precise  purpose  for  which  it  has  been  voted  by  Parlia-  j 
ment.  Except  to  a  limited  extent  by  the  Army  and  Navy, 
it  cannot  be  used  for  any  other  purpose.  Thus,  a  depart- 
ment may  have  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  House  of 
Commons  for  two  private  secretaries  and  three  charwomen. 
Experience  may  show  that  what  it  really  needed  was  three 
private  secretaries  and  two  charwomen.  But  it  cannot  take 
the  money  voted  for  charwomen  to  pay  for  private  sec- 
retaries, or  the  money  voted  for  private  secretaries  to  pay 
for  charwomen.  It  must  carry  on  for  the  year  under  the 


228  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

conditions  sanctioned  by  Parliament,  and  only  in  the 
arrangements  made  the  year  after,  if  approved  by  Parlia- 
ment, can  it  make  the  desired  change. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  all  the  departments  are 
preparing  what  are  called  "Estimates,"  setting  out  in  the 
minutest  detail  the  amount  of  money  they  think  they  will 
require  for  carrying  on  the  work  which  Parliament  expects 
them  to  do.  Except  in  the  case  of  the  Army  and  Navy  the 
details  of  all  these  estimates  are  submitted  to  the  clerks  of 
the  Treasury  for  examination  and  approval.  A  fierce  fight 
always  takes  place  for  many  weeks  or  months  between  these 
representatives  of  the  Treasury  and  the  representatives 
of  the  departments.  The  Treasury,  whose  sole  interest  is 
retrenchment,  denounces  the  first  suggestion  as  preposterous, 
and  attempts  to  hack  and  hew  away  great  lumps  of  pro- 
posed expenditure.  There  are  continual  conferences  and 
committees  and  discussions  over  suggestions  involving  sums 
varying  between  ten  pounds  and  a  million.  The  clerks  of 
the  departments,  if  worsted,  appeal  to  their  political  chief; 
and  the  clerks  of  the  Treasury  appeal  to  the  Financial 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  and  interviews,  pleasant  or 
unpleasant,  are  held  between  these  to  see  if  they  can  agree 
or  compromise.  If  important  disputes  still  remain,  both 
sides  appeal  to  the  Prime  Minister,  and  the  subject  may  be 
discussed  in  the  Cabinet;  or  the  Prime  Minister  may  again 
refer  the  subject  to  a  committee  to  report  and  recommend. 
But  beyond  the  Prime  Minister  there  is  no  further  appeal, 
and  his  decision  is  final.  The  nature  of  that  decision  may, 
however,  be  modified  by  the  threat  of  resignation  either  by 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  who  represents  the  Treasury 
on  the  one  hand,  or  the  head  of  the  spending  department 
on  the  other.  Such  threats  rarely  occur  to  complicate  a 
reasonable  argument  in  the  case  of  the  ordinary  expenditure 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  229 

of  a  department,  in  which  every  year  the  lower  or  higher 
officials  come  to  some  more  or  less  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment, and  if  they  cannot  get  a  hundred,  take  their  pen,  sit 
down  quickly,  and  write  fifty.  But  in  the  case  of  military 
expenditure  on  armaments,  in  which,  before  the  Great  War, 
there  was  perpetual  struggle  between  every  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  who  had  to  find  the  money,  and  every  head 
of  the  War  Office  or  Admiralty  pressed  by  the  whole  of 
his  officials  for  more  and  more  money,  these  winter  Cabinet 
crises  were  the  normal  experiences  of  Government.  Lord 
Randolph  Churchill,  when  newly  appointed  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,  astonished  his  own  Conservative  supporters, 
destroyed  his  own  political  career,  and  changed  the  political 
history  of  this  country,  because  he  refused  to  sign  estimates 
for  increase  of  naval  and  military  expenditure.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone retired  from  being  Prime  Minister,  and  finally  from 
political  life,  because  his  colleagues  approved  of  increased 
naval  estimates.  And  in  the  years  of  the  Liberal  Cabinet 
before  the  war,  it  was  almost  the  normal  experience  about 
every  Christmas  for  the  Liberal  Prime  Minister  of  the  day 
to  find  that  either  his  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  had 
resigned,  or  that  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  or  War 
Secretary  had  resigned,  or  that  all  had  resigned  together, 
over  the  difference  of  opinion  between  what  the  country 
needed,  and  what  the  country  could  afford  to  spend  in  the 
matter  of  national  defence. 

Whether  decided,  however,  by  questions  of  high  policy 
and  discussion  such  as  the  building  of  Dreadnoughts  or 
the  raising  of  armies,  or  by  questions  of  lesser  national 
importance  such  as  the  amount  rightly  to  be  spent  on  pens, 
ink,  and  blotting  paper,  by  the  early  spring  all  the  Esti- 
mates have  been  signed  and  approved  by  the  Chancellor  of  1 
the  Exchequer,  and  are  ready  to  be  submitted  to  the 


230  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

criticism  and  approval  of  Parliament.  They  are  first  made 
public  by  the  issue  of  a  series  of  blue  paper-covered  volumes 
presented  free  to  all  Members  of  Parliament,  and  purchas- 
able at  cost  price  by  the  public  outside.  It  is  probable 
that  not  one  in  a  million  of  that  public  has  ever  seen  even 
the  outside  of  these  unattractive  looking  books,  and  certainly 
not  one  in  ten  of  the  Members  of  Parliament  give  them  even 
a  cursory  examination.  They  are  supposed  to  be  occult  and 
mysterious,  and  to  require  knowledge  of  Government  com- 
plication or  the  higher  mathematics  for  their  understanding. 
But  there  is  nothing  occult  or  mysterious  about  them  at 
all.  They  merely  give,  in  the  minutest  detail  and  under 
classified  heads,  statements  of  the  various  ways  in  which 
it  is  proposed  Government  money  shall  be  spent  during  the 
following  twelve  months.  They  are  exactly  the  same  in 
principle,  and  no  more  difficult  to  comprehend,  than  if  an 
individual  householder  were  to  write  out  on  a  sheet  of  paper 
what  he  expected  the  personal  expenses  of  his  household 
would  be  for  a  year  in  advance — so  much  on  house  rent, 
rates,  food,  and  clothes,  education  of  the  children,  holidays, 
and  enjoyment.  The  Government  estimates  are  also  good 
enough  to  give  the  critic  an  actual  comparison  in  detail 
with  the  money  spent  in  any  past  year  on  any  object,  and 
the  money  proposed  to  be  spent  in  the  next  year;  so  much 
more,  for  example,  on  charwomen ;  so  much  less  on  private 
secretaries.  If  a  new  service  is  introduced,  demanding 
money,  notes  of  explanation  are  given  of  that  service;  why, 
for  example,  an  airship  should  be  built  here,  or  a  new  post- 
ofBce  erected  there;  in  exactly  the  same  fashion  as  a  man  in 
his  private  budget  might  say :  "I  propose  to  take  another 
servant  as  I  have  now  five  children,"  or  "As  I  am  moving 
into  the  suburbs,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  spend  more  money 
on  railway  fares."  The  idea  which  is  often  entertained 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  231 

even  by  critics  of  distinction  who  have  no  knowledge  of  the 
actual  working  of  the  machine  of  Government,  that  there 
is  deliberate  deception  of  the  House  of  Commons  by  the 
Government  concerning  the  way  in  which  it  proposes  to 
spend  the  public  money,  or  such  deliberate  concealment  of 
the  objects  of  expenditure  as  to  render  House  of  Commons 
criticism  impossible,  is,  of  course,  nonsense.  It  is  true  that 
a  certain  flexibility  was  permitted  in  the  great  military 
machines  (partly  in  the  desire  to  conceal  new  inventions 
from  our  future  war  enemies)  which  was  not  allowed  in  the 
civil  departments,  and  that  consequently  a  sailor  and  organ- 
izer of  genius,  the  late  Lord  Fisher,  was  able  to  boast  that 
he  had  spent  in  secret  large  sums  on  new  weapons  of  war 
without  the  knowledge  even  of  his  own  political  chief.  It 
is  true  also  that  during  the  war  a  most  vicious  system  of 
"Votes  of  Credit"  replaced  detailed  estimates,  and  sums  of 
many  hundreds  of  millions  were  handed  over  by  Parliament 
to  such  departments  as  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  without 
any  kind  of  detailed  forecast  of  how  the  money  was  pro- 
posed to  be,  or  record  of  how  it  was,  in  fact,  spent.  But 
the  country  has  now  returned  to  the  normal  system,  and 
under  the  normal  system  every  sixpence  which  a  Govern- 
ment proposes  to  spend  must  be  recorded  in  a  detailed 
estimate  and  approved  by  Parliament.  And  if,  as  I  shall 
show  in  a  moment,  this  detailed  estimate  fails  as  a  matter 
of  fact  to  receive  competent  and  expert  criticism  which  may 
modify  or  reduce  it,  that  is  due  not  to  secrecy  or  mendacity 
of  Government  departments,  but  to  the  conventions  under 
which  Parliament  works,  and  to  the  impossible  congestion 
of  the  business  which  Parliament  is  supposed  to  survey  and 
approve. 

In  theory,  there  is  every  opportunity  given  for  complete 
and  detailed  examination  of  all  these  estimates  by  Parlia- 


232  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

ment;  and  in  theory  Parliament,  in  such  a  discussion,  could 
lop  off  any  proposed  expenses  which  it  thought  should  not 
be  incurred.  But  in  practice  no  such  examination  takes 
place,  nor  is  any  such  "lopping  off"  possible.  It  fails  to 
take  place  for  three  principal  reasons.  The  first  is  that 
Parliament  has  only  a  very  limited  time  to  give  to  the  ex- 
amination of  estimates,  being  mainly  occupied  with  other 
business.  The  second  is  that  in  the  time  it  devotes  to  such 
an  examination,  it  is  practically  always  occupied,  as  I  have 
already  described,  with  the  examination  of  grievances,  instead 
of  the  hunt  for  extravagance.  And  the  third  is  that  a  vote 
against  a  Government  estimate  is  now  regarded  as  a  vote  of 
"no  confidence"  in  the  Government  as  a  whole.  So  that 
if  Parliament  insisted  on  reducing  the  salary  of  a  washer- 
woman, or  limiting  the  grandeur  of  a  building  of  some  quite 
unimportant  department,  the  vote  is  interpreted  as  a  vote  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Government  as  a  whole.  And  a 
change  of  policy  is  an  upheaval  compared  to  which  the 
salary  of  a  washerwoman  or  the  decoration  of  a  building 
is  a  very  unimportant  thing. 

In  theory,  the  estimates  of  each  department  are  first 
examined  by  a  Committee  of  the  whole  House  of  Commons, 
called  the  Committee  of  Supply.  A  Committee  of  the  whole 
House  is  a  Committee  which  every  Member  can  attend  if 
he  pleases,  and  in  whose  divisions  he  can  have  a  vote.  It 
is  thus  distinguished  from  the  committees  of  a  limited  number 
of  Members  selected  from  the  House  of  Commons  to  which 
certain  work  is  delegated,  and  at  which  other  Members  may 
attend,  but  cannot  speak  or  vote.  The  Committee  of  the 
whole  House  to  which  the  estimates  are  first  submitted  is 
held  in  the  actual  Chamber  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
the  casual  visitor  desiring  to  see  Parliament  and  finding 
the  House  debating  "in  Committee,'*  has  to  be  very  well 
informed  in  order  to  distinguish  between  such  a  debate  and 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  233 

that  of  the  House  of  Commons  itself.  Outwardly  the  only 
changes  are  that  the  great  silver  mace  which  lies  on  the  table 
when  the  House  of  Commons  is  sitting  in  Parliament  is 
hung  half  concealed  under  the  table  while  the  Committee 
is  sitting ;  that  the  Speaker  is  absent,  and  his  throne  vacant ; 
and  that  the  proceedings  are  presided  over  by  the  Chairman 
of  Committee  (the  Deputy  Speaker,  who  has  been  appointed 
by  the  Government  to  this  office)  who  sits  in  a  small  and  less 
dignified  chair  in  evening  dress  in  front  of  the  Speaker's 
throne.  In  debate  itself  the  only  difference  is  that  members 
may  speak  more  than  once  on  the  same  subject,  a  rule  which 
is  evidently  an  inheritance  from  the  time  when  committee- 
work  was  supposed  to  be  a  business  discussion  of  detail, 
instead  of  a  series  of  set  oratorical  speeches  on  great  prin- 
ciples. The  rule  now  makes  practically  no  difference,  as 
there  are  almost  always  more  who  desire  to  speak  than  time 
to  permit  them  to  do  so,  and  the  Chairman  having  an  abso- 
lute right  to  call  on  whom  he  pleases,  it  is  very  rarely  that 
a  Member  gets  an  opportunity  to  make  a  second  speech. 
And  as  nearly  every  estimate  as  presented  in  committee  is  } 
made  the  opportunity  of  discussion  of  some  big  principle,  ' 
and  usually  turned  into  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  some  specific  piece  of  policy,  the  lengthy  and 
prepared  oration  almost  invariably  replaces  any  system  of 
quick  interrogation  about  detail.  Many  of  the  great  set 
nights  of  political  oratory,  with  crowded  galleries  and  bril- 
liant and  stormy  debate,  have  been  held  in  what,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  has  been  Committee  on  some  estimate  or  other. 
And  most  of  the  Governments  which  have  been  obliged  to 
resign  or  dissolve  owing  to  hostile  votes  of  Members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  have  thus  been  defeated  not  in  the  House 
of  Commons  itself,  but  in  Committee.  l 

i  This  happened,  for  example,  to  the  Liberal  Government  of  1880- 


234  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

In  theory,  days  and  days  of  Parliamentary  time  might 
be  devoted  to  the  detailed  examination  by  Parliament, 
through  its  Committee,  of  every  item  of  proposed  expendi- 
ture included  in  the  published  book  of  estimates  of  every 
public  department.  After  the  estimate  of  every  department 
is  approved  by  this  Committee,  the  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee solemnly  reports  this  approval  to  the  whole  House 
of  Commons,  at  which  proceeding  the  Speaker  is  once  more 
on  his  throne,  and  the  mace  once  more  appears  above  the 
table  instead  of  under  it.  And  in  theory  once  again,  and 
indeed  often  in  practice,  the  House  of  Commons  or  any 
Members  of  it  may  challenge  or  appeal  against  the  decision 
of  its  own  Committee,  and  debate  any  subjects  raised  in  the 
estimates  which  were  not  debated  by  the  Committee ;  or,  as 
not  infrequently  happens,  debate  again  exactly  the  same 
subject  with  exactly  the  same  arguments  as  in  Committee. 

Again,  any  of  these  subjects  or  details  may  be  discussed 
when  the  House  of  Commons  passes  from  approval  of  the 
Government  estimates  to  the  voting  of  money  which  is  to 
pay  for  those  estimates  when  approved.  But  in  practice 
the  whole  system  breaks  down  because  the  Government  has 
no  time  to  devote  to  these  subjects,  and  because  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  House  itself  are  interested  in  what  they  regard 
as  far  more  important  business.  Some  twenty  days  is  the 
minimum  which  the  Standing  Orders  insist  shall  be  inevi- 
tably devoted  to  discussion  of  estimate  finance  upon  what  are 
called  "allotted  days."  And  practically  in  every  year  the 

1885,  which  was  defeated  in  a  Committee  Vote  upon  its  Budget  pro- 
posals; to  the  Liberal  Government  of  1892-1895,  which  was  defeated  in 
Committee  on  the  War  Office  Estimate  Vote  in  connexion  with  the 
supply  of  cordite;  and  to  the  Conservative  Government  of  1900-1905, 
whose  defeat  at  the  end  of  the  Parliamentary  Session  on  the  Irish  Esti- 
mates helped  to  produce  its  refusal  to  face  the  Parliamentary  Session 
of  another  year. 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT 


235 


minimum  and  the  maximum  are  one.  As  there  are  many 
more  than  twenty  Government  departments,  or  different  im- 
portant votes  in  the  same  department,  it  is  evident  that  the 
estimates  of  many  departments  will  not  be  discussed  at  all. 
And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  many  sessions  and  years  often  go 
by  without  the  finance  of  some  particular  uninteresting  de- 
partment ever  being  debated  by  the  House  of  Commons  or 
its  estimates  committee.  Of  those  which  are  debated,  as  I 
have  said,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  subject  of  debate  is 
not  finance,  but — on  a  proposal  to  reduce  the  salary  of  the 
Secretary  or  head  of  it  by  £5  or  £50 — an  attempted  im- 
peachment of  some  particular  point  of  policy  or  administra- 
tion. 

Finally,  when  the  allotted  days  have  all  been  filled,  a  scene 
takes  place  only  unremarkable  because  of  its  familiarity. 
In  one  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life,  on  a  hot  August  night, 
the  estimates  of  all  the  departments  which  have  not  pre- 
viously been  passed,  are  put  specifically  one  after  another 
from  the  Chair,  and  the  Committee  and  the  House  are  asked 
to  approve  or  disapprove  without  a  word  of  discussion.  A 
crowd  of  elderly  or  ageing  gentlemen  spend  this  night 
from  darkness  to  dawn  in  pushing  through  the  alternative 
lobbies  of  "yes"  or  "no,"  and  thus  registering  a  series 
of  decisions  by  which  the  method  of  expending  three, 
four,  or  five  hundred  millions  of  Government  money  is 
decided  without  any  kind  of  discussion  at  all.  The 
elderly  gentlemen  find  satisfaction  for  the  discomfort  of 
their  all-night  pilgrimage  in  the  fact  that  their  names  have 
been  registered  in  an  enormous  series  of  divisions,  each  of 
which  can  be  called  as  witness  to  their  active  and  vigilant 
guardianship  of  the  public  purse.  The  Government  finds 
satisfaction  in  the  fact  that  it  thus  gets  its  money.  And 
the  departments  concerned  find  satisfaction  in  the  knowl- 


236  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

edge  that  if  they  have  any  skeletons  in  their  cupboard,  these 
skeletons  have  been  unrevealed  in  public  debate. 

There  is  no  natural  reason  why  the  committee  stage  of 
the  estimates  should  always  be  taken  in  the  full  assembly 
of  the  Committee  of  Supply  in  the  House  of  Commons  itself, 
and  attempts  have  been  made  to  obtain  a  detailed  dissection 
by  representatives  of  Parliament  by  referring  estimates  to 
small  committees  of  named  and  selected  Members.  These 
attempts,  however,  have  in  practice  broken  down.  The 
work  is  not  interesting  enough  to  induce  an  ambitious 
Member  to  attend,  nor  can  any  public  reputation  be  obtained 
in  it,  as  the  newspapers  take  no  account  of  it,  and  his  fellow 
Members  are  bored  rather  than  cheered  by  the  pertinacity 
of  any  would-be  economist.  The  only  spark  of  public 
interest  which  such  a  system  provoked  in  the  year  of  its  trial 
in  1919  was  when  the  members  of  one  of  these  committees, 
after  heated  discussion,  refused  expenditure  for  the  Lord 
Chancellor's  bath.  And  the  interest  here  was  less  in  the 
campaign  of  economy  than  in  the  nature  of  the  subject 
economized — whether  or  no  extra  facilities  should  be  pro- 
vided in  his  new  residence  for  the  ablutions  of  Lord  Birken- 
head.  The  bath  was  restored  to  him  by  the  House  on  the 
report  stage  without  discussion,  and  with  such  restoration 
the  new  system  perished. 

Another  attempt  to  restore  detailed  House  of  Commons 
criticism  was  made  by  the  formation  of  an  "Estimates  Com- 
mittee." Every  year  a  committee  of  Members,  some  twenty 
in  number,  was  appointed,  who  selected  the  estimate  of  any 
department  they  pleased  for  critical  examination.  The 
heads  of  the  department  came  before  them,  and  were  cross- 
examined  in  every  detail  of  the  proposed  expenditure.  This 
system  also  provided  a  little  public  advantage,  for  such 
estimates  were  only  examined  weeks  or  months  after  they  had 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  237 

been  issued,  and  after,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  much  of  the 
money  had  been  spent.  They  were  examined  under  such 
conditions  that  the  heads  of  the  departments  with  their 
expert  could  always  make  out  a  plausible  case  against  un- 
trained, amateur,  and  inexpert  criticism.  And  they  were 
examined  under  such  conditions  of  public  indifference  that 
even  if  they  reported  adversely  against  any  particular  items 
of  estimated  expenditure,  the  public  outside  was  either 
ignorant  of  the  fact,  or,  if  informed,  merely  acknowledged 
with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  an  incorrigibly  vicious 
accompaniment  of  all  Government. 

There  are  those  who  advocate  the  only  real  possibility 
of  House  of  Commons  control  in  detail;  that  is,  examination 
of  the  estimates  of  any  department  by  representatives  of 
the  House  of  Commons  before  these  estimates  are  finally 
approved  and  published  by  the  Government.  Such  a  system  ' 
was  recommended  by  the  Committee  of  National  Expendi- 
ture which  made  sensational  reports  immediately  after  the 
war.  But  it  would  be  bitterly  opposed  by  the  departments 
themselves.  There  would  be  found  almost  impossible  diffi- 
culty in  distinguishing  between  questions  of  policy  on  which 
it  could  have  no  voice,  and  questions  of  extravagance  in 
carrying  out  a  policy.  If  confined  to  the  latter,  it  would 
doubtfully  give  any  advantage  over  the  criticism  at  present 
carried  on  by  the  experts  of  the  Treasury.  If  straying 
into  the  former,  it  would  cut  at  the  root  of  the  doctrine 
now  tacitly  recognized  as  part  of  the  Constitution,  that  the 
Government  as  a  whole,  acting  through  a  Cabinet  chosen  by 
a  Prime  Minister  who  maintains  the  confidence  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  is  responsible  for  the  carrying  out  of  policy, 
which  confidence  is  the  test  of  continuance  of  such  approval. 

I   have   said  that   no  expenditure  is   lawful   except   that 
sanctioned    as    having    first    been    approved    through    the 


238  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

acceptance  of  an  estimate.  How,  it  may  be  asked,  is  ex- 
penditure met  which  was  unforeseen,  and  must  of  necessity 
have  been  unforeseen  at  the  time  when  the  estimates  were 
compiled?  This  is  secured  by  means  of  what  are  called 
"Supplementary  Estimates."  At  any  time  when  Parlia- 
ment is  sitting,  but  generally  at  six  months  intervals,  about 
July  and  about  February,  the  Government  submits  to 
Parliament  details  of  additional  expenses  which  any  depart- 
ment considers  it  necessary  to  incur  (or,  in  some  cases,  which 
it  has  actually  incurred).  These  supplementary  estimates  go 
through  exactly  the  same  history  as  the  ordinary  estimates. 
They  are  published  for  Parliamentary  and  public  criticism 
with  explanations  of  their  need,  they  are  passed  through 
the  same  Committee  of  Supply,  they  are  reported,  if  ap- 
proved, to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  their  total  is  then 
included  in  the  amount  which  the  Government  asks  Parlia- 
ment to  grant  for  the  expenses  of  the  year. 

How  is  the  actual  money  granted?  Many  people  un- 
familiar with  the  details  of  Government  finance,  and  even 
many  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  believe  that  when 
estimates  have  been  sanctioned,  the  door  of  the  Exchequer 
automatically  unlocks  and  the  money  pours  out  for  all  the 
objects  which  the  estimates  set  out  to  obtain.  This  is  a 
complete  delusion.  The  House  of  Commons  might  continue 
to  approve  estimates  of  Government  departments  year  after 
year,  and  to  any  amount,  but  if  no  further  action  was  taken, 
neither  the  House  itself,  nor  the  departments,  nor  the  Prime 
Minister  and  Government  could  obtain  one  farthing  from 
that  Bank  of  England  which  is  used  for  paying  out  Govern- 
ment money,  and  which  would  remain  as  obdurate  to  all 
their  combined  entreaties  as  its  solid  granite  walls  remain 
obdurate  to  any  desire  of  the  passing  stranger  to  obtain 
the  wealth  contained  therein. 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  239 

The  first  step  which  has  to  be  taken  is  to  pass  a  Bill 
every  year  through  the  House  of  Commons  instructing  the 
Bank  of  England  to  pay  out,  either  from  moneys  paid  in  to 
what  is  called  the  Consolidated  Fund,  or  by  such  borrowings 
as  are  sanctioned  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  an 
amount  of  money  exactly  equal  in  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence  to  the  total  amount  which  Parliament  has  sanctioned 
in  voting  all  the  estimates  of  the  year.  This  Bill  is  called 
the  Appropriation  Bill,  and  the  annual  Act,  when  it  has/ 
been  passed  by  both  houses  of  Parliament,  is  called  the/ 
Appropriation  Act. 

Before  the  Appropriation  Bill  can  be  introduced  into 
the  House  of  Commons,  a  resolution  has  to  be  passed  in 
what  is  called  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  recom- 
mending that  the  amount  contained  later  in  the  Bill  shall 
be  granted  for  public  expenditure.  This  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  is  a  Committee  of  the  whole  House,  and 
sits  in  the  Chamber  of  the  House  of  Commons.  It  has  the 
same  Chairman  as  the  Committee  of  Supply,  and  the  same 
rules  of  speaking  as  the  Committee  of  Supply.  And  it 
reports  its  proceedings  in  the  same  manner  as  the  House  of 
Commons,  which  can  approve  or  disapprove  of  them.  The 
original  intention,  no  doubt,  was  another  safeguard  against 
the  authority  of  the  Crown  or  Executive  through  which 
Parliament  could  examine  in  detail  in  Committee  why  so  many 
tens  or  hundreds  of  millions  should  be  granted  the  Crown  or 
Executive.  That  function  has  now  vanished,  and  the  resolu- 
tions which  precede  appropriation  are  now  either  purely 
formal,  or  made  the  subject  of  general  debate  on  the 
character  and  policy  of  the  Government. 

If  it  is  formal,  as  is  usual,  the  spectator  gazes  on  a 
bewildering  ceremony  only  tolerable  or  explicable  because 
each  item  is  the  relic  of  a  former  age,  and  records  history 


240  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

in  its  performance.  He  may  see,  for  example,  in  one  night, 
the  whole  process.  The  House  is  in  Committee  of  Supply 
passing  an  estimate,  the  mace  under  the  table,  the  Speaker's 
chair  empty.  A  moment  later  the  estimates  are  being  re- 
ported to  the  House  itself.  The  Speaker  is  in  his  chair; 
the  Sergeant-at-Arms  has  advanced  up  the  floor  of  the 
House,  bowed,  put  the  mace  on  the  table,  bowed  again,  and 
proceeded  backwards  to  his  seat.  The  Chairman  informs 
the  Speaker  in  the  same  Chamber  and  before  the  same 
audience  that  the  Committee  has  approved  of  estimates  of 
so  many  millions,  and  the  House  approves  of  the  report  by 
saying  "Ay."  A  moment  later  the  Speaker  leaves  his 
throne,  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  proceeds  again  up  the  House, 
and  with  similar  bowings  places  the  mace  under  the  table 
again,  again  proceeding  backwards  to  his  seat.  The  Chair- 
man resumes  his  former  position,  but  is  now  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  a  resolution  is  pro- 
posed and  immediately  carried  that  a  number  of  millions  of 
pounds,  shillings,  and  pence  exactly  equivalent  to  the  amount 
of  the  estimates  voted  shall  be  recommended  to  be  voted  by 
the  House  of  Commons.  The  Sergeant-at-Arms  advances 
again  with  similar  bows,  places  the  mace  again  on  the  table, 
and  bows  his  way  backwards.  The  Speaker  re-enters  his 
throne,  the  Chairman  again  leaves  his  seat,  and  leports  that 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  has  approved  of  this 
amount.  The  Speaker  asks  for  the  approval  of  the  House 
for  this  report,  and  the  approval  is  again  given.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  then  advances  with  a  series  of 
profound  and  customary  obeisances,  bearing  in  his  hand 
an  empty  sheet  of  paper  labelled  the  "Appropriation  Bill,'* 
and  presents  it  to  the  clerk  at  the  table.  It  is  "read  for 
the  first  time"  before  the  House  adjourns.  The  unen- 
lightened foreigner  might  think  that  he  was  witnessing  the 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  241 

proceedings  of  a  lunatic  asylum  rather  than  that  of  the 
Mother  of  all  Parliaments.  It  is  only  after  explanation 
that  he  can  realize  that  these  forms  and  ceremonies  are 
survivals  and  symbols  of  a  struggle  of  centuries  to  maintain 
the  right  of  Parliament  for  the  imposing  of  taxation  against 
the  Crown. 

This  Appropriation  Bill  has  to  pass  through  the  various 
stages  of  all  Bills  which  ultimately  become  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment. It  has  to  be  read  a  first  time,  read  a  second  time, 
passed  through  Committee  clause  by  clause,  read  a  third  time 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  to  go  through  the  same 
stages  in  the  House  of  Lords.  At  any  of  these  various 
"readings"  several  debates  can  be  raised,  and  in  most  cases 
normally  are  raised,  concerning  any  of  the  administrative 
actions  and  policy  of  the  Government  of  the  day.  Finally, 
the  Bill  receives  the  King's  assent,  and  becomes  an  Act  of 
Parliament.  And  it  is  only  on  the  recognition  of  that  assent 
that  the  necessary  certificate  is  given  which  unlocks  the 
door,  and  allows  the  money  to  be  paid  out  for  the  purposes 
of  supply  from  the  Consolidated  Fund. 

This  Consolidated  Fund  is  merely  the  banking  account 
of  the  Government  at  the  Bank  of  England,  essentially 
similar  in  operation,  and  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  the 
banking  account  of  an  individual  in  his  own  bank.  Money 
is  paid  into  it  by  cheques  and  drafts,  and  paid  out  of  it  by 
cheques  and  drafts.  When  funds  are  low,  as  when  the 
money  required  for  expenses  has  been  a  greater  sum  than 
the  money  coming  in  from  taxation,  the  Government  borrows 
from  the  Bank  of  England  just  in  the  same  way  as  a  private 
customer  obtains  an  overdraft  at  his  bank.  These  are  called 
Ways  and  Means  advances.  Or  again,  the  Government  may 
for  a  time  borrow  from  other  banks,  or  the  general  public 
outside,  for  a  few  weeks  or  a  few  months.  But  this  borrow- 


242  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

ing  is  limited  by  the  amount  of  borrowing  sanctioned  by 
Parliament  in  the  Appropriation  Act.  Such  borrowings 
are  by  sale  of  "Treasury  Bills,"  and  a  varying  rate  of 
interest  is  paid  on  them.  If  for  any  purpose  the  Govern- 
ment wishes  to  borrow  beyond  this  amount,  it  must  ask 
Parliament  to  pass  a  Bill  authorizing  it  to  do  so.  And  that 
Bill  may  be  refused  by  Parliament  if  it  pleases. 

Government  expenditure  is  practically  never  "side- 
tracked," as  it  were,  or  set  off  against  Government  profit 
in  any  transaction.  The  profit  is  paid  into  the  Consolidated 
Fund,  and  the  expenditure  is  paid  out  of  the  Fund.  If  a 
department  in  any  detail  made  a  profit,  say,  of  five  shillings, 
it  could  not  use  that  five  shillings  to  pay  any  other  detail 
of  expenses.  A  cheque  for  five  shillings  would  be  paid  into 
the  Consolidated  Fund,  and  a  separate  cheque  for  five 
shillings  would  be  paid  out  of  the  Consolidated  Fund.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  many  thousands  of  clerks  are  required 
to  keep  the  accounts  of  this  enormous  Fund,  and  that  the 
amount  standing  to  its  credit  varies  from  minute  to  minute, 
and  from  week  to  week,  literally  by  millions.  Into  it  flow 
miscellaneous  receipts  from  all  over  the  world;  now  the 
product  of  customs  and  excise  duties,  now  the  money  wrung 
from  the  income  tax  payer,  now  the  profits  or  receipts  from 
post  office  stamps  or  telegrams,  now  dividends  from  the 
shares  held  by  the  Government  in  the  Suez  Canal.  And 
from  it  flow  an  equally  miscellaneous  variety  of  payments — 
the  salaries  of  Government  servants,  the  sums  owing  to 
contractors  for  building  great  Government  works,  the  con- 
struction of  a  legation  or  consulate  in  Chile  or  Japan,  the 
honouring  of  the  little  cheques  of  the  Old  Age  Pensioners 
every  week  in  every  village  in  Britain. 

All  these  payments,  great  and  small,  are  watched  by  the 
Controller  and  Auditor-General  from  his  department.  He 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  243 

is  responsible  to  Parliament  that  the  money  shall  be  spent 
as  Parliament  directed.  He  reports  to  Parliament  and 
the  Public  Accounts  Committee  annually  appointed  for  the 
examination  and  explanation  of  such  transactions,  if  in  any 
case  the  will  of  Parliament  has  been  in  the  smallest  degree 
disobeyed.1 

It  will  thus  be  seen  with  what  detailed  vigilance  and 
severity  Parliament  has  barricaded  the  treasure  of  the 
nation,  raised  in  the  revenue,  from  the  wanton  or  errant 
hand  of  kings  or  governments.  It  has  had  long  and  dolor- 
ous experience  in  the  past  of  the  result  of  permitting  kings 
and  governments  to  dip  their  hands  into  the  public  purse, 
and  use  the  money  as  they  choose.  Many  credulous  persons 
still  believe  that  the  King  can  draw  money  as  he  pleases  out 
of  the  taxes  to  pay  for  private  expenditure  or  public  enter- 
tainment. The  King  can  receive  not  a  farthing  from  the 
taxes  except  that  which  Parliament  votes  him,  and  even  the 
bricks  and  furniture  of  his  palaces  and  castles  are  paid  for 
by  Parliament  in  an  estimate  put  forward  by  a  Minister. 
More  people,  a  little  less  credulous,  believe  that  the  Govern- 
ment have  some  ultimate  power  of  getting  at  the  national 
income;  that  they  can  secretly,  if  not  legitimately,  divert 
some  of  it  into  their  private  pockets ;  or  in  any  case  openly 
and  legitimately  arrange  to  spend  in  times  of  crisis,  here, 
perhaps,  extra  sums  on  Dreadnoughts  or  armaments,  there, 

i  I  have  described  the  transaction  of  the  liberation  of  money  by 
Parliament,  normally  accomplished  early  in  August  by  the  passing 
of  the  Appropriation  Act.  Money  can  be  liberated,  and  is  in  fact 
liberated,  if  and  when  needed,  by  the  passing  of  Consolidated  Fund 
Acts  following  on  the  giving  of  a  Vote  of  Credit — that  is,  an  accep- 
tance of  a  portion  of  the  total  estimate  required  in  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means.  These  Consolidated  Fund  Acts  follow  exactly  the 
same  course  and  produce  the  same  results  as  the  Appropriation  Acts. 
They  are  all  gathered  up  and  consolidated  in  the  final  Appropriation 
Act  of  each  year. 


244  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

additional  moneys  on  putting  down  riots,  or  work  for  the 
unemployed.  Both  these  ideas  are  illusions.  An  old  school- 
fellow playfully  congratulated  Mr.  Lloyd  George  when  he 
was  made  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  on  the  ground  that 
he  had  an  appointment  "near  the  pile."  And  there  are 
many  who  seeing  the  forbidding  castellated  fa9ade  of  the 
Treasury  in  Whitehall,  believe  that  these  stern  walls  conceal 
strong  rooms  and  cellars  full  of  gold  and  Treasury  notes 
signed  "Bradbury"  or  "Warren  Fischer";  and  that  the 
private  passage  between  Downing  Street  and  the  Treasury 
means  that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  if  he  could 
suborn  some  bribable  policeman,  could  descend  into  those 
cellars  and  return  with  his  pockets  stuffed  with  metal 
or  paper  money. 

All  this  belongs  to  the  region  of  dreams.  The  Treasury 
is  only  filled  with  rooms  of  clerks  adding  and  calculating 
and  writing  memoranda  on  questions  of  public  policy.  The 
imposing  signature  which  terrifies  provincial  places —  "My 
Lords  of  the  Treasury  having  considered  your  application," 
etc. — is  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  work  of  a  humble  sub- 
ordinate official,  earning  a  few  hundred  pounds  a  year.  The 
only  money  there  is  that  provided  in  the  pockets  of  these 
officials  for  their  mid-day  lunches  and  their  journey  home. 
A  cheque  on  the  Consolidated  Fund  signed  by  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  would  be  immediately  rej  ected  by  the  Bank 
of  England.  So  would  a  cheque  by  the  Prime  Minister 
or  all  the  members  of  the  Government  combined.  So  far  as 
any  underhand  ways  are  concerned,  Parliament  has  caulked 
all  possible  leaks.  Never  again  can  any  political  corrup- 
tion come  from  raids  on  the  public  funds  carried  out  with- 
out the  sanction  of  Parliament. 

Yet,  while  Parliament  has  thus  established  its  paramount 
authority,  there  are  those  who  assert  that  it  has  effectually 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  245 

lost  in  practice  all  financial  control.  In  gaining  the  whole 
world  it  has  lost  its  own  soul.  The  series  of  barriers  against 
which  Government  was  to  be  sharply  brought  up  in  critical 
examination  of  national  finance,  have,  in  practice,  become 
merely  formality  or  routine,  or  transformed  for  other  pur- 
poses. The  apparatus  is  there,  but  it  has  ceased  to  work. 
It  has  ceased  to  work  not  because  it  is  impossible  itself, 
but  because  of  the  conditions  of  human  nature  and  the 
limitations  of  human  effort.  No  Member  of  Parliament 
wishes  to  bother  about  the  details  of  finance,  still  less  does 
he  wish  his  neighbour  to  bother  him  with  them.  There 
may  be  stupidities  to  be  exposed,  but  there  are  few  if  any 
corruptions.  And  it  is  by  exposing  corruptions  rather  than 
by  revealing  stupidities  that  Parliamentary  reputation  can 
be  made. 

Every  year  there  is  the  perpetually  renewed  debate  upon 
the  far  more  vivid  and  interesting  question,  not  of  how  money 
has  been  spent,  but  of  how  money  shall  be  raised.  Every 
year  there  are  a  dozen  interesting  Bills  to  be  passed  or 
opposed,  a  dozen  impeachments  of  the  Government  to  be 
endorsed  or  denied,  a  dozen  subjects  of  discussion  affecting 
interests  and  moving  opinion  throughout  the  five  nations 
and  around  the  seven  seas.  Small  wonder  that  amid  the 
magnificence  of  such  a  program,  few  have  interest,  and 
less,  energy,  to  maintain  a  little  dullish  daily  nagging  upon 
a  department's  expenditure  of  thousands  or  millions  of  public 
money;  and  that,  having  accepted  the  general  principle  of 
approval  of  a  Government  while  confidence  in  it  is  retained, 
Parliament  is  on  the  whole  content  to  throw  upon  that 
Government,  responsibility  for  carrying  out  its  business 
upon  reasonably  efficient  and  economical  lines. 


246  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 


The  third  function  of  Parliament  is  the  passing  of  laws. 
This  is  at  once  more  generally  understood  and  less  compli- 
cated than  the  other  two  whose  working  I  have  described. 
But  it  is  still  an  elaborate  and  hazardous  business  for  a 
Bill  which  has  been  introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons  to 
reach  the  stage  when  it  is  at  last  signed  by  the  King,  and 
becomes  the  law  of  the  land.  All  its  various  stages  have 
to  be  successively  attained  within  one  session  of  Parliament ; 
that  is,  normally  in  less  than  a  year.  It  is  competing  in 
the  scanty  time  of  Parliament  during  this  year  with  dozens 
of  other  Bills  each  equally  desirous  of  life,  and  each  with 
friends  in  Parliament  itself  and  in  the  country  outside  equally 
or  more  potent.  If  it  arouses  opposition,  and  especially 
if  it  affects  financial  interests,  it  will  encounter  a  body  of 
Members  obstinately  determined  to  "slit  the  thin-spun  life," 
and  who  use  the  "abhorred  shears"  not  of  direct  rejection, 
but  of  interminable  talk  on  every  possible  occasion  when 
attempts  are  made  by  the  friends  of  the  Bill  to  get  a  move 
forward.  The  result  is  that  of  the  hundreds  of  Bills  that 
are  introduced  every  year,  but  very  few  attain  the  haven 
where  they  would  be,  and  these  mostly  in  a  battered  and 
mutilated  condition.  The  remainder  have  perished. 

The  fact  that  a  huge  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons 
is  genuinely  in  favour  of  the  Bill  makes  little  difference  to 
the  chance  of  that  Bill  being  passed.  Such  Bills,  for  ex- 
ample, as  those  legalizing  marriage  with  a  deceased  wife's 
sister,  or  giving  the  vote  to  women,  were  introduced  year 
after  year  for  twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  obtained  continual 
and  substantial  majorities,  but  were  always  in  some  way 
submerged  or  torpedoed  at  some  stage  in  their  journey,  or 
held  up  until  the  time  when  Parliament,  having  become 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  247 

wearied  of  its  work  at  the  end  of  the  year,  every  Bill  auto- 
matically perished  with  the  closing  of  the  Parliamentary 
session. 

In  theory,  any  elected  Member  of  Parliament  has  the 
right  to  introduce  Bills,  and  scores  of  private  Members  of 
Parliament  do  so  every  session.  Each  has  his  Bill  solemnly 
printed  at  the  public  expense,  with  the  names,  inscribed  on 
the  back,  of  himself  and  his  friends  who  are  prepared  to 
support  it.  In  practice,  although  copies  of  these  may  be 
printed  in  his  local  newspapers,  or  circulated  among  his 
constituents  to  show  how  actively  and  vigilantly  he  is  carry- 
ing out  his  promises  he  made  to  them,  very  few  of  these 
Bills  are  even  ever  discussed  by  the  House  of  Commons. 
They  are  not  discussed  because  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
of  the  House  of  Commons  is  seized  by  the  Government  for 
what  is  called  Government  business;  and  the  House  of 
Commons,  although  it  always  grumbles,  and  sometimes 
makes  an  appearance  of  resistance,  is  always  compelled  at 
last  to  submit,  and  give  to  the  Government  the  time  it  says 
it  requires.  The  consequence  is  that  never  more  than  a  few 
Friday  sittings,  when  the  House  only  sits  from  twelve  o'clock 
to  five,  and,  owing  to  the  week-end  habit,  attendance  is 
scanty,  are  devoted  to  attempts  at  legislation  by  private 
Members  of  the  House. 

Members  ballot  for  the  right  to  obtain  portions  of  this 
time  for  the  Bills  they  wish  to  pass;  that  is  to  say,  at  a 
certain  appointed  hour,  every  Member  who  wants  to  intro- 
duce a  Bill  writes  his  name  on  a  card  which  is  put  through 
a  slit  into  a  box,  and  the  Clerk  of  the  House  draws  indis- 
criminately the  cards  from  this  box,  and  reads  the  names  out 
in  order  to  the  House  of  Commons.  The  first  name  drawn 
has  a  right  to  the  first  Friday  for  his  Bill;  the  second  for 
the  second  Friday,  and  so  on.  But  as  there  are  not  more 


248  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

than  ten  or  twelve  Fridays  available,  not  many  more  than 
ten  or  twelve  Bills  are  even  discussed.  If  a  Member  is 
lucky  in  this  lottery,  and  can  introduce  a  Bill  which  is 
generally  popular,  and  which  neither  the  Government  nor 
any  body  of  his  fellow  Members  dislike,  and  if  he  possesses 
the  art  of  appeasing  opposition,  he  may  manage  adroitly 
to  steer  his  Bill  through  a  Parliamentary  session,  and  be 
proud  at  the  end  in  the  knowledge  that  he  has  made  or 
changed  law.  Or  his  Bill,  if  popular,  may  be  taken  up  in 
its  later  stages  by  the  Government  itself,  and  given  Govern- 
ment time  for  its  passage.  But  both  these  circumstances 
are  exceedingly  rare.  In  general  it  may  be  accepted  that 
only  a  Government  can  pass  laws,  and  that  the  work  of  the 
private  Member  is  confined  to  the  support  or  criticism  of 
such  Bills  as  the  Government  introduces  during  their  pas- 
sage through  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 

Parliament  has  devised  a  system  by  which  no  change  shall 
take  place  in  the  law  without  a  most  careful  and  detailed 
examination.  Each  Bill  in  its  passage  has  to  pass  through 
eleven  stages ;  a  first  reading,  a  second  reading,  a  Commit- 
tee stage,  a  Report  of  the  Committee  to  the  House,  and  a 
third  reading  stage  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  exactly  the 
same  number  of  stages  in  the  House  of  Lords;  and  the  as- 
sent of  the  King,  formally  given  at  the  end  by  his  repre- 
sentative asserting  "Le  Roy  le  Vetdt,"  in  a  ceremony  which 
takes  place  in  the  House  of  Lords  Chamber.  At  any  of 
these  stages,  except  the  last,  the  Bill  may  be  rejected,  and 
at  four  of  them,  the  Committee  and  Report  stages  in  Lords 
and  Commons,  it  may  be  substantially  altered.  If  the  Bill 
has  a  money  clause  in  it,  i.e.  a  clause  which  involves  the 
spending  of  public  money  if  it  passes,  a  separate  money 
resolution  has  to  be  passed  in  Committee  and  reported  to 
the  House.  And  if  the  Bill  is  of  a  taxing  nature,  i.e.  in 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  249 

any  way  extorting  money  from  the  subject  for  the  expense 
of  Government — such  as  the  annual  "Budget"  or  Finance 
Bill,  which  settles  the  taxes  of  the  year — it  cannot  be  in- 
troduced at  all  until  a  resolution  has  been  passed  in  Com- 
mittee of  Ways  and  Means  authorizing  the  raising  of  such 
money,  and  approved  on  its  report  to  the  House  itself. 
And  the  Bill  founded  on  that  resolution  can  in  no  case 
propose  to  raise  more  money  than  that  which  has  been  sanc- 
tioned by  the  resolution  itself. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  with  what  care  Parliament  has  ar- 
ranged that  changes  of  law  shall  be  thoroughly  discussed 
before  made,  and  that,  especially  where  taxes  are  concerned, 
no  imposts  shall  be  smuggled  through  the  House  of  Commons 
without  full  discussion. 

In  practice,  the  procedure  is  considerably  shortened.  For 
indeed,  if  it  were  not  so  shortened,  hardly  any  measures  of 
first-class  importance  would  ever  pass  through  Parliament. 
The  first  reading  of  a  non-controversial  measure  is  generally 
a  purely  formal  step  in  the  presentation  of  a  blank  paper, 
with  the  name  of  the  proposed  Bill  written  on  it,  by  the 
Minister  in  charge,  or  a  private  Member.  Or,  at  most,  it 
is  an  operation  under  what  is  called  the  "Ten  Minutes 
Rule,"  by  which  the  Minister  is  allowed  to  expound  the 
Bill  in  ten  minutes,  and  only  one  speech  is  allowed  in  reply. 
The  second  reading  is  a  formal  debate  on  the  principles  of 
the  Bill,  which  may  last  more  than  one  day,  and  in  which 
set  speeches  are  made,  full  of  vigour  and  eloquence,  by  the 
most  important  Ministers  and  Members  of  the  House.  No 
word  or  line  of  the  Bill  is  altered  in  such  debates.  But  in 
the  Committee  stage,  commencing  with  the  first  word  of 
the  first  clause,  the  whole  House  of  Commons  in  Committee, 
or  the  members  of  the  Committee  to  whom  is  delegated  the 
work  of  dealing  with  the  particular  Bill,  commence  to  ham- 


250  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

mer  the  Government  draft  into  the  actual  material  of  a 
Statute  of  the  Realm. 

A  few  years  ago,  practically  every  Bill  had  to  go  through 
its  Committee  stage  in  the  House  of  Commons  itself,  and 
as  only  one  debate  could  be  carried  on  in  one  room  at  the 
same  time,  the  result  was  a  most  appalling  congestion  of 
business.  In  consequence  of  this,  a  number  of  large  com- 
mittees were  set  up,  each  meeting  in  committee-rooms  up- 
stairs, and  often  simultaneously;  and  these  committees  have 
the  detailed  work  of  fashioning  the  Bills  sent  to  them.  Each 
consists  of  some  sixty  or  eighty  members,  under  a  Chair- 
man, who  sit  in  the  morning,  when  the  House  of  Commons 
is  not  sitting,  as  well  as  in  the  afternoon,  and  they  can  thus 
carry  forward  the  work  of  fashioning  four  or  five  Bills  at 
the  same  time.  There  is  little,  if  any,  report  of  their  pro- 
ceedings in  the  public  Press,  and  eloquence  and  irrelevant 
oratory  are  largely  discountenanced.  As  a  result  the  pro- 
ceedings are  business-like,  and  in  the  case  of  all  Bills,  except 
those  arousing  angry  opposition  to  their  passage,  the  work 
of  construction  is  probably  done  far  better  than  under  the 
old  method  of  full  discussion  of  the  whole  House. 

In  the  work  of  making  a  law,  the  printed  substance  of 
the  proposed  Bill,  numbered  clause  by  clause,  is  taken  as 
the  groundwork  and  any  member  can  move  an  "amendment" 
to  any  word  or  line  of  these  clauses.  The  amendment  may 
propose  to  leave  out  a  word,  a  line,  or  a  clause,  or  to  insert 
new  words,  or  new  lines,  or  new  clauses ;  or  to  alter  words, 
or  lines,  or  clauses.  When  any  such  amendment  is  proposed, 
the  Chairman  has  to  limit  the  debate  to  the  subject  of  that 
amendment,  and  if  any  one  begins  to  talk  on  any  other 
subject  whatever,  he  is  ruled  out  of  order,  and,  if  he  per- 
sists, is  commanded  to  sit  down  and  be  silent.  A  Member, 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  251 

however,  may  move  an  amendment  to  the  amendment,  and 
then  the  subject  of  discussion  is  limited  to  the  amendment 
to  the  amendment,  and  only  after  that  is  got  rid  of  can  the 
debate  return,  first  to  the  amendment,  and  then  to  the 
clause.  There  is  a  division  on  each  amendment  if  it  is 
pressed,  and  then  the  debate  passes  on  to  the  next  amend- 
ment, perhaps  a  line  or  two  lower  down,  and  so  on  until  the 
end  of  the  clause  is  reached;  and  then  the  motion  is  put 
that  the  clause  itself,  as  amended  or  unamended,  stand  part 
of  the  Bill.  And  a  debate  can  again  be  raised  by  the  enemies 
of  the  Bill  against  the  whole  clause,  and  finally  there  is  a 
division  on  that  also,  and  when  that  is  agreed  to  the  Bill 
has  been  jogged  on  one  step  further  by  the  addition  of  an- 
other clause. 

And  so  the  Bill  is  built  up,  day  after  day,  in  discussion, 
until  all  the  originally  proposed  clauses  have  been  amended 
or  rejected  or  agreed  to,  and  new  clauses  which  have  been 
proposed  either  accepted  or  refused,  and  the  title  of  the 
Bill  finally  approved. 

And  then  it  has  finished  the  Committee  stage,  and  is  re- 
ported to  the  House  of  Commons,  perhaps  with  fifty  or  a 
hundred  clauses,  some  of  them  old  and  some  of  them  new. 
And  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  report  stage  the  same 
process  is  gone  through  again,  when  new  clauses  may  be 
proposed,  and  amendments  put  down  on  the  paper — in 
the  names  of  different  Members — to  different  clauses ;  or 
new  amendments  here,  as  in  Committee,  may  be  proposed 
at  an  appropriate  time  by  Members  without  any  notice  be- 
ing given  at  all.  But  after  a  time  this  stage  is  also  con- 
cluded, and  the  Bill  is  given  a  third  reading.  In  this  third 
reading  not  a  line  or  comma  can  be  altered,  but  the  third 
reading  is  a  general  debate  on  the  principles  of  the  Bill  as 


252  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

it  has  now  been  modified  by  Parliament,  which  are  often 
something  quite  different  from  those  of  the  Bill  as  originally 
introduced. 

The  third  reading  having  been  approved  of,  it  goes  to 
the  House  of  Lords  to  pass  through  similar  stages  in  a 
similar  process.  If  it  is  a  money  Bill,  the  House  of  Lords 
has  to  pass  it  through  these  stages,  although  it  cannot 
modify  it  or  reject  it.  If  it  is  an  ordinary  Bill,  the  House 
of  Lords  may  reject  it,  or  introduce  into  it  substantial 
amendments.  And  if  the  House  of  Commons  refuses  to 
accept  those  amendments,  or  if  it  is  rejected,  the  Bill  is 
dead  for  that  session.  But  if  the  House  of  Commons  wishes 
it  to  become  law,  and  passes  it  again  through  all  these  stages 
in  the  two  following  sessions,  the  King  signs  his  approval 
of  the  Bill,  and  it  becomes  a  Statute,  regardless  of  the  op- 
position of  the  House  of  Lords. 

It  might  seem  to  the  observer  that  this  cumbrous  and 
elaborate  machinery,  giving  every  opportunity  for  delay, 
would  result  in  very  few  Bills  being  passed  through  Parlia- 
ment at  all.  Except  for  an  apparatus  for  limiting  debate, 
commonly  called  the  Closure,  which  I  shall  presently  de- 
scribe, it  is  indeed  doubtful  if  any  Bills  violently  controver- 
sial as  between  great  political  Parties,  would  ever  pass  into 
law.  But  apart  from  such  statutes  as  these,  it  is  astonish- 
ing how  much  legislation  is  accomplished  even  under  this 
system,  on  matters  which  are  often  violently  opposed  by 
special  interests  affected,  or  by  the  conviction  and  pre- 
judice of  a  few.  Not  a  few  Bills  pass  nearly  every  year, 
often  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  clauses,  which  at  the  beginning 
unfriendly  interests  outside  or  unfriendly  groups  within 
the  House,  have  sworn  shall  never  become  law.  And  it  is 
manifest  that  a  Bill  with  fifty  or  a  hundred  clauses,  on  each 
of  which  it  is  possible  to  move  fifty  or  a  hundred  amendments, 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  253 

and  to  make  as  many  speeches,  could  always  be  destroyed, 
not  by  the  hostility  of  the  many,  but  by  the  loquacity  of 
the  few.  Such  Bills  pass,  however,  largely  through  the 
influence  of  human  psychology,  through  the  perpetual 
good-tempered  wearing  down  of  the  opposition,  by  friend- 
liness and  flattery,  and  sometimes  by  a  touch  of  the  "Whip" 
in  the  exercise  of  pressure  from  the  Member's  constituency 
not  unconnected  with  the  Government  "Whips."  And 
sometimes  with  a  touch  of  the  carrot,  also  not  unconnected 
with  the  Government  "Whips,"  in  the  suggestion  of  how 
much  the  Government  would  be  indebted  to  the  Member  for 
the  withdrawal  of  his  opposition,  hitherto  so  conscien- 
tiously and  ably  exercised. 

The  piloting  of  such  a  Bill  is  a  continual  and  fascinating 
study  in  the  influences  of  human  nature.  Here  one  man  is 
conciliated  with  a  concession.  There  another,  in  an  ill- 
tempered  opposition,  is  made  to  appear  as  if  lacking  in 
the  decencies  of  Parliamentary  life,  or  as  if  suspiciously 
active  in  the  service  of  special  interests.  There  interests 
themselves  are  often  amazed  and  horrified  at  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  Parliamentary  support  promised  them,  and  hasten 
to  agree  with  their  adversary  while  they  are  in  the  way 
with  him.  And  so,  in  obedience  to  the  common  sense  and 
sagacity  which,  apart  from  the  bitterness  of  party  feeling, 
dominate  the  atmosphere  of  British  political  life,  these 
non-party  Bills  become  law;  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  to  the 
advantage  of  the  community,  and  the  good  of  man's  estate. 

The  exercise  of  the  arts  of  persuasion  and  fear  is,  how- 
ever, only  possible  in  connexion  with  Bills  mainly  non-con- 
troversial ;  that  is  to  say,  Bills  which  do  not  unite  one  Party 
against  another  on  a  question  which  is  in  the  fore-front  of 
the  unending  political  battle.  In  a  case  of  such  controver- 
sial legislation,  it  is  almost  a  matter  of  honour,  and  cer- 


254  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

tainly  with  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  its  supporters  in  the 
country,  for  an  Opposition  to  offer  every  obstacle,  even 
to  the  extreme  of  physical  fatigue  and  discomfort,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  Bill  passing;  and  for  the  Government  to  call 
upon  its  supporters  for  a  similar  or  even  greater  super- 
human effort,  in  order  to  ensure  the  Bill  becoming  law. 

In  a  very  short  time  after  it  has  passed  its  second  read- 
ing, any  question  of  rational  criticism  or  rational  reply 
vanishes.  The  struggle  passes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  out- 
break of  actual  warfare,  from  the  ingenuity  of  diplomatic 
argument  at  the  beginning,  to  the  mere  brutal  test  of  the 
rival  forces  of  animal  resistance  at  the  close.  On  the  at- 
tacking side,  amendments  are  moved,  not  because  they  are 
good  amendments  or  bad,  but  because  they  are  amendments ; 
and  discussion  on  them,  and  division  on  them,  must  occupy 
some  part  of  the  time  of  the  House.  Members  are  judged 
not  by  whether  they  can  argue,  but  by  whether  they  can 
talk;  and  the  man  who  can  occupy  the  greatest  mileage 
without  saying  anything  at  all,  and  without  being  sup- 
pressed by  the  Chairman  for  irrelevance  and  repetition,  is 
the  man  most  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  Whips  who  are  con- 
ducting the  Opposition  campaign. 

On  the  other  side  there  sits  in  the  House,  or  loiters  list- 
lessly through  the  lobbies,  a  great  body  of  intelligent,  mid- 
dle-aged or  elderly  gentlemen,  each  triumphantly  elected 
by  his  constituency,  and  mostly  tormented  with  the  itch  of 
speech.  But  the  Government  Whip  who  is  conducting  his 
campaign  is  equally  determined  that  they  shall  keep  silent. 
Their  duty  at  this  stage  is  to  vote  and  not  to  argue.  They 
listen  to  incredibly  foolish  arguments;  they  are  taunted 
with  being  dumb  cattle;  -Vei7  effort  is  made  by  the  skilful 
sharpshooters  on  the  otner  side  to  draw  each  of  them  per- 
sonally into  the  encoder;  and  sometimes  human  nature 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  255 

gives  way  under  the  influence  of  cajolery,  insult,  insinuation, 
or  innuendo,  and  one  plunges  wildly  into  utterance.  That 
is  a  point  scored  by  the  other  side,  although  often  the 
Member  himself  does  not  know  it,  and  congratulates  him- 
self on  having  delivered  a  crushing  reply  which  will  be  re- 
ported in  his  local  newspapers  in  his  constituency.  The 
Members  of  Government  in  charge  of  the  Bill  are  them- 
selves in  a  perpetual  dilemma.  If  they  refuse  to  reply  to 
each  successive  amendment,  or  reply  in  perfunctory  manner, 
the  Opposition  raise  cries  of  pain  like  wounded  animals, 
and  declare  that  the  House  of  Commons  has  never  been 
so  grossly  treated,  and  that  the  old  great  tradition  of  de- 
bate has  gone.  If  they  give  long  and  reasoned  replies,  the 
skilled  speakers  on  the  Opposition  side  express  great  grati- 
tude, and  use  each  argument  as  a  peg  on  which  to  hang  fur- 
ther debate,  dissecting  with  a  kind  of  owlish  wisdom  the 
various  points  advanced,  and  asking  for  further  replies  to 
their  counter  arguments.  The  Minister  who  is  most  suc- 
cessful in  these  amazing  struggles  is  the  one  who,  while  ac- 
cepting each  amendment  with  great  politeness  as  a  serious 
attempt  to  improve  the  Bill,  talks  with  courtesy  and  volubil- 
ity for  some  minutes  without  saying  anything  at  all. 

Pretty  soon  the  conflict  is  transformed  from  the  day 
to  the  night,  and  becomes  purely  one  of  physical  exhaustion 
on  either  side.  The  rule  adjourning  the  House  at  eleven 
o'clock  is  suspended,  and  Members  come  down  for  a  trial  of 
resolution  and  physical  endurance.  All  the  long  night  in 
the  Chamber  itself  an  appearance  of  debate  is  maintained, 
with  some  one  always  speaking,  though  not  always  any  one 
listening.  The  lobbies  around  are  packed  with  recumbent 
forms  of  men  of  importance  in  their  day,  who  are  roused 
from  uneasy  slumbers  from  time  to  time  in  order  to  push 
through  one  of  the  division  lobbies  for  or  against  some 


256  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

particular  amendment,  the  very  words  and  meaning  of  which 
they  have  no  wish  to,  and  will  never,  know.  The  two  ranks 
play  the  regular  game  on  these  occasions,  each  Opposition 
thinking  that  it  may  some  day  be  in  the  Government,  and 
each  Government  knowing  that  it  will  some  day  be  in  Op- 
position. At  intervals  there  will  be  sudden  scenes  of  violence 
which  the  ignorant  spectator  will  believe  to  be  spontaneous, 
when,  amid  cheers  and  counter  cheers  and  personal  epithets 
and  retorts  hurled  across  the  House  the  Opposition  leaders 
will  declare  that  never  was  a  Parliament  treated  so  shame- 
fully, and  the  Government  Leaders  retort  that  never  was 
an  Opposition  so  fractious  and  unreasonable.  At  intervals 
the  humourist  will  take  possession,  and  his  still,  small  voice 
will  provide  a  welcome  running  comment  in  jests  which  seem, 
perhaps,  more  cheering  in  the  arid  argument  of  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  than  when  they  appear  in  cold  print  next 
day.  At  intervals,  again,  nothing  will  be  left  in  the  Cham- 
ber itself  but  sheer  lassitude  and  boredom,  while  in  the  din- 
ing-rooms below  Members,  in  little  groups,  often  drawn  from 
both  Parties,  are  eating  pleasant  little  late  suppers,  or  early 
breakfasts  of  melons  and  stewed  kidneys  and  grilled  bones ; 
or  in  a  breath  of  fresh  air  on  the  terrace,  engage  in  friendly 
discussion  of  the  fight  inside,  while  the  dawn  flames  up  from 
the  Surrey  side  of  the  river. 

By  the  time  that  the  fresh  relays  at  eight  or  nine  in  the 
morning  are  pouring  down  to  take  the  place  of  the  jaded 
combatants  of  the  night,  the  visible  aspect  of  the  "Mother 
of  Parliament"  presents  a  sufficiently  dismal  spectacle.  The 
atmosphere  is  heated  and  foul,  the  floor  is  covered  with 
torn  paper,  Members  are  strewn  about  the  benches  in  un- 
picturesque  attitudes.  In  the  remoter  corners,  dishevelled, 
stoutish  men,  dirty,  unshaved,  and  in  crumpled  shirtfronts, 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  257 

are  noisily  or  peacefully  sleeping.  On  the  front  benches, 
just  separated  by  the  box,  the  little  group  of  Government 
and  Opposition  leaders  who  have  had  to  keep  up  some  coher- 
ence of  thought,  often  on  complicated  subjects,  in  the  midst 
of  this  desolation  (for  every  word  uttered  in  the  astonish- 
ing conflict  is  printed  in  the  pages  of  Hansard  at  the  public 
expense),  white- faced,  heavy-eyed,  and  intolerably  weary,  are 
testing  the  resolution  of  themselves  and  their  followers,  which 
of  them  will  be  the  first  to  give  way. 

These  proceedings  call  public  attention  in  the  country 
to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  real  struggle  on  a  great  issue. 
They  usually  are  not  fights  to  a  finish,  but  end  in  that  com- 
promise which  is  the  secret  of  success  in  British  politics. 
The  Government  offers  more  time  for  discussion,  or  some 
substantial  concession  to  the  Opposition  if  the  Opposition 
*x)nsents  to  honourable  terms  of  peace.  If,  however,  feel- 
ing is  strong  in  the  country  against  the  Government  mea- 
sure, and  the  Opposition  desires  an  election,  and  believes 
it  can  win,  this  insensate  competition  of  physical  endurance 
may  be  kept  up  for  many  weeks  or  months.  During  that 
time  the  pressure  is  pretty  considerable  on  all  old  and,  in 
the  military  jargon,  C3  men,  and  certainly  as  a  direct  result 
of  these  conflicts  the  lives  of  many  Members  of  Parliament 
have  been  injured  or  shortened.  A  friend  of  mine,  of 
early  middle  age — since  dead — was  greeted  on  one  such 
occasion  by  a  sympathetic  official  with  the  remark:  "It's 
hard  on  all  you  old  men.  This  night  work  shortens  most 
of  your  lives.  Two  of  'em  died  only  last  Session."  l 

i  TJie  strain  of  these  remarkable  conflicts  can  be  shown,  perhaps, 
by  a  memory  of  two  days  only.  In  the  great  struggle  over  Mr.  Lloyd 
George's  Budget  of  1909,  in  the  discussion  on  the  Reversion  Duty 
which  involved  the  maintenance  of  a  clear  mind  upon  exceedingly 
complicated  questions  of  land  tenure,  we  started  on  the  front  bench 


258  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Huge  majorities,  all-night  sittings,  popular  support  out- 
side, and  determined  resolution  within,  would,  however,  be 
quite  unable  to  carry  any  measure  deliberately  obstructed 
by  any  skilful  and  courageous  Opposition,  but  for  the  use 
in  some  form  or  other  of  what  has  come  to  be  called  the 
Closure.  This  Closure,  for  the  first  time  limiting  unlimited 
freedom  of  debate,  was  introduced  a  little  over  forty  years 
ago  as  a  counter  to  the  attempt  by  Parnell  and  his  fol- 
lowers to  make  the  legislative  machine  unworkable.  But 
even  if  a  handful  of  Irish  Members  had  never  proved,  by 
speaking  for  an  unlimited  time  to  unlimited  amendments  to 
any  Bill,  that  they  could  prevent  any  such  Bill  passing,  it 
is  probable  that  the  changed  conditions  of  the  House  of 
Commons  would  have  found  some  such  system  necessary. 
For  the  growth  of  democracy,  the  development  of  the  pop- 
ular newspaper,  and  the  interest  which  an  electorate  of 
millions  for  the  first  time  takes  in  its  Parliament  and  repre- 
sentatives have  almost  abolished  the  silent  Member — once 
in  so  large  a  majority — and  practically  compelled  every 
Member  to  speak.  And  this  interminable  loquacity  imposed 
as  a  compulsion  upon  six  or  seven  hundred  gentlemen,  most 
of  whom  think  they  can  speak  with  effect,  and  all  of  whom 
can  speak  with  consumption  of  time,  would  have  in  any 

in  Parliament  at  a  quarter  to  three  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  and 
adjourned  at  nearly  ten  o'clock  next  morning.  We  were  almost  im- 
mediately summoned  to  a  Conference  which  occupied  Thursday  morn- 
ing, with  the  Treasury  officials  on  amendments,  and  sat  continuously 
on  the  front  bench  again  from  a  quarter  to  three  till  nearly  eight 
o'clock  the  next  morning.  We  then  adjourned  on  a  compromise,  agree- 
ing that  the  Opposition  should  have  Monday  afternoon  for  further 
discussion,  on  condition  the  debate  was  finished  about  dinner  time. 
In  forty-one  hours  we  had  thus  debated  for  thirty-six,  and  spent  the 
remainder  in  preparation  for  further  debate.  Small  wonder  that  the 
officials,  and  even  some  of  the  protagonists  in  such  encounters  have 
disappeared  prematurely  from  the  scene. 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  259 

case  compelled  some  such  method  as  the  imposition  of  a 
time  limit.  The  Closure  has  taken  many  forms.  Each 
fresh  imposition  has  been  fiercely  resented  by  those  who 
thought  they  stood  for  the  tradition  of  Parliament.  And 
even  after  it  had  been  accepted  in  all  other  business,  its 
introduction  in  discussion  of  Finance  Bills,  such  as  the 
Budget,  appeared  to  some  of  the  oldish  and  most  respect- 
able as  the  coming  of  the  end  of  the  world. 

In  its  first  form  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  was  suffi- 
ciently brutal.  In  the  muddle  of  a  debate,  when  crowds  of 
Members  were  tormented  with  undelivered  speeches,  a  Mem- 
ber of  the  Government  or  a  private  Member  would  suddenly 
arise,  even  while  some  Member  was  talking,  and  move  "That 
the  question  be  now  put."  The  Speaker  or  the  Chairman 
of  Committee  might  accept  or  ignore  such  a  proposal  in 
his  own  discretion.  But  if  he  accepted  it,  a  division  was 
immediately  taken,  and  if  with  more  than  a  minimum  number 
of  a  hundred  voting  for  it,  the  House  of  Commons  signified 
its  approval,  a  second  division  was  immediately  taken  on 
the  subject  of  debate,  and  decided  one  way  or  other  with- 
out any  discussion  at  all.  And  the  thoughts  of  the  Member 
whose  speech  was  thus  roughly  truncated,  like  those  of  the 
Turk  in  Carlyle's  description  of  the  Paris  Convention,  re- 
mained conjectural  for  ever. 

The  method  became  still  more  crude  and  brutal  when 
it  was  extended  from  the  particular  amendment  under  dis- 
cussion to  the  passage  of  great  chunks  of  the  Bill  itself; 
so  that  a  Minister  might  propose,  and  indeed  often  did  so 
successfully,  that  a  whole  clause  stand  part  of  the  Bill,  or 
that  two,  three,  or  four  clauses  should  do  so,  or  that  all 
the  words  down  to  line  17  or  line  23  should  do  so.  In  which 
case,  if  the  Speaker  approved,  and  the  Members  agreed,  a 
great  slice  of  the  Bill  would  be  suddenly  passed  through 


260  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Committee,  and  scores  or  even  hundreds  of  amendments 
swept  away,  good  and  bad  alike,  amid  cries  of  rage  and 
dismay  from  those  who  had  given  notice  that  they  would 
move  them,  and  had  carefully  prepared  speeches  upon  them, 
and  were  often  far  from  wishing  to  "obstruct"  at  all,  but 
only  desirous  of  making  a  better  Bill. 

It  was  evident  that  such  methods  as  these  of  using  the 
"guillotine"  merely  brought  Parliament  into  disrepute,  and 
tended  to  excite  reprisals  even  more  brutal  from  the  hands 
of  an  Opposition  which  had  suffered  from  such  treatment 
when,  in  its  turn,  it  was  called  into  power.  It  was  there- 
fore modified  by  two  substantial  improvements,  and  will  be 
rarely  used  again  in  that  form.  The  first  is  by  the  establish- 
ment of  what  is  called  a  Time-Table.  The  Government  asks 
the  House  to  approve  of  a  resolution  allotting  so  many 
days  to  the  different  sections  of  the  Bill;  so  many  to  first, 
second,  and  third  readings ;  so  many  to  the  Committee 
stage ;  and  generally  in  detail  dividing  up  these,  so  that 
the  most  important  clauses  are  sure  of  discussion,  because 
taken  at  the  beginning  of  an  allotted  day.  The  advantage 
of  this  system  is  that  the  debate  is  serious  instead  of  frivo- 
lous. For  if  the  time-table  is  so  constructed  that  it  allows 
for  important  subjects  to  come  first  upon  each  allotted 
day,  these  important  subjects  will  be  seriously  discussed; 
because  no  delay  or  advantage  is  gained  to  an  Opposition 
by  waste  of  time  in  trivial  amendments.  Whether  the  talk 
has  been  serious  or  absurd  makes  no  difference  to  the  fall 
of  the  ax  at  the  close.  There  is  also  this  advantage,  that 
as  time  is  thus  rigidly  limited,  the  supporters  of  the  Govern- 
ment are  under  no  necessity  to  keep  silent;  for,  as  a  great 
Chief  Whip  philosophically  remarked:  "If  I  am  going  to 
get  my  clauses  anyhow  at  eleven  o'clock  tonight,  our  fel- 
lows may  as  well  vamp  as  the  others."  All-night  sittings 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  261 

can  be  avoided,  and  contests  of  endurance  no  longer  interest 
or  amuse  the  public  outside.  On  the  other  hand  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  this  new  arrangement  furnishes  an  enormous 
weapon  for  the  Government  of  the  day.  They  know  that 
once  the  number  and  distribution  of  allotted  days  is  de- 
cided, they  are  bound  to  get  their  Bill.  The  House  of  Com- 
mons is  tied  on  the  rack,  and  cannot  move  hand  or  foot. 
Some  Governments  artfully  invite  the  House  itself  to  ar- 
range the  time-table  on  a  big  Bill,  and  thereby  gain  credit 
from  ignorant  pedants,  who  hail  this  as  a  concession  from 
the  executive  to  the  legislative  body.  It  is,  of  course,  not 
a  concession  at  all.  No  Government  with  any  secure  sup- 
port minds  in  the  least  what  particular  clauses  are  discussed 
in  its  Bill,  or,  within  limits,  how  many  days  are  taken  in 
their  discussion.  This  is  merely  an  enlargement  of  the  size 
of  the  rack,  or  an  alteration  of  the  materials  of  which  it 
is  composed.  The  only  important  thing  is  that  the  victim 
should  be  securely  bound  to  it  without  escape,  and  that  it 
should  be  serviceable  at  appropriate  intervals.  In  other 
words,  that  the  Government  should  know  that  within  the 
boundaries  of  a  session,  if  it  can  retain  its  majority,  it 
will  be  certain  to  get  its  Bills  passed  through  Parliament. 
A  final  and  rather  ingenious  arrangement  in  part  miti- 
gates the  rigid  pressure  of  this  inexorable  machine.  This 
is  a  method  called  the  "Kangaroo"  Closure.  A  Minister 
may  move  that  so  many  lines  or  clauses  stand  part  of  the 
Bill  under  discussion,  with  the  reserving  of  such  amend- 
ments for  discussion  as  the  Speaker  or  the  Chairman  may 
determine.  If  this  is  approved,  all  verbal  and  trivial  and 
purely  obstructive  amendments  are  swept  aside,  and  the 
House  or  Committee,  under  the  guidance  of  its  chief  officials, 
proceeds  to  discuss  only  those  subjects  which  are  most 
worthy  of  its  consideration. 


262  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

By  these  various  methods  the  British  House  of  Commons 
has  managed  to  retain  its  primary  function  of  debate.  It 
has  had  to  make  great  sacrifices  in  order  that  debate  may 
be  preserved.  The  set  oration  has  had  to  disappear;  so 
has  the  right  of  every  Member  to  make  unlimited  speeches 
on  any  subj  ect ;  so  has  much  of  the  repeated,  irrelevant,  but 
not  inglorious  utterance  of  continual  impeachment  and  de- 
fence by  set  orations  on  each  side,  which  characterized 
Parliament  over  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  day  when  an 
orator,  however  brilliant,  like  Fox,  could  come  down  as  a 
matter  of  course  every  night  to  denounce  a  Minister,  how- 
ever popular,  like  Pitt,  and  be  answered  by  the  same  argu- 
ments set  up  against  the  same  accusation  is  gone;  and  for 
ever.  But  Parliament  is  determined  to  maintain  Govern- 
ment by  discussion.  It  is  the  greatest  debating  society 
in  the  world.  And  no  one  who  has  had  personal  experience 
of  the  advantage  in  the  difficult  task  of  making  law  such 
discussion  can  give,  will  ever  lightly  acquiesce  in  the  abandon- 
ment of  such  a  method. 

For  whatever  its  faults — and  they  are  sufficiently  glaring 
— such  discussion  does,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  provide  remedy 
for  numberless  injustices,  great  and  small,  which  would 
otherwise  go  unredressed.  It  does  provide  a  medium  or 
process  by  use  of  which  Bills  are  modified  and  improved — 
their  defects  removed,  their  good  elements  strengthened  in 
the  merciless  criticism  of  each  clause  and  each  line  of  them. 
It  does  provide  a  central  arbitrament  situated  under  a 
kind  of  sounding  board,  by  which  the  free  expression  of 
the  opinion  of  men  of  all  class,  creed,  and  party,  can  be 
transmitted,  not  only  through  the  length  and  breadth  of 
England,  but  over  the  seas  and  throughout  the  world.  Men 
talk  lightly  of  the  decay  of  Parliament.  There  is  no  de- 
cay of  Parliament;  only  a  present,  which  is  always  limited 


THE  WORK  OF  PARLIAMENT  263 

and  vulnerable,  contrasted  with  the  ideal  vision  of  a  past, 
which  in  its  own  day  was  not  less  open  to  criticism.  In- 
terest in  Parliament  waxes  or  wanes  in  proportion  to  in- 
terest in  public  affairs  outside.  It  is  unlikely  that  any 
other  institution  will  replace  it.  It  has  the  most  remark- 
able and  prolonged  history  of  any  popular  assembly  in 
the  world.  It  will  last  so  long  as  England  endures. 


CHAPTER     XV 

HOW     H'E     PAYS     AND     WHA'T     HE     PAYS 
FOR     TAXES 

Almost  all  Governments  owe  money.  The  money  they 
owe  is  called  the  National  Debt.  The  National  Debt  is 
chiefly  made  by  wars.  In  times  of  peace  most  good  Govern- 
ments pay  their  way  year  by  year,  and  they  also  raise  suf- 
ficient income  to  pay  off,  year  by  year,  a  piece  of  the  Na- 
tional Debt.  So  you  will  see  at  the  end  of  each  war  a  huge 
National  Debt,  and  this  being  reduced  year  by  year  until 
it  is  very  considerably  lessened,  and  the  people  entertain 
the  most  joyful  hopes  that  it  will  disappear  altogether. 
And  then,  suddenly,  a  war  comes  along,  and  the  Govern- 
ment has  to  start  borrowing  again  instead  of  paying  off. 
And  as  all  wars  get  more  prolonged  and  more  expensive, 
the  borrowing  each  time  enormously  increases.  So  that, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  last  Great  War,  all  the  nations  are 
staggering  under  a  load  of  debt  too  great  to  be  endured. 

The  National  Debt  is  just  the  same  as  any  private  debt. 
When  the  Government  wants  to  borrow  money,  it  persuades 
people  to  lend  it  out  of  their  own  private  fortunes  by 
promising  to  pay  them  interest  on  it,  and,  in  addition,  to 
pay  back  the  exact  amount  borrowed.  The  Government 
has  no  power  to  make  people  lend  it  money.  It  has  to 
persuade  the  people  to  do  so  by  giving  them  a  good  return 
in  interest  as  long  as  the  money  is  lent,  and  by  mak- 
ing them  quite  sure  that  sooner  or  later  they  will  get 

264 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  265 

it  all  back  again.  At  any  time  when  the  Government  wants 
thus  to  obtain  money  from  private  persons  the  Government 
advisers  try  to  decide  what  is  the  least  possible  rate  of  in- 
terest they  shall  promise  to  pay,  in  order  to  charm,  out  of 
the  pockets  of  the  public  who  possess  the  money,  the  amount 
it  requires.  The  more  it  borrows,  the  higher  this  interest 
has  to  be,  and  therefore  the  greater  the  burden  thrown  on 
the  whole  public  in  raising  the  money  through  the  taxes 
to  pay  the  interest. 

At  one  time,  for  example,  the  Government  could  borrow 
almost  as  much  money  as  it  pleased  for  the  promise  of  two 
and  a  half  per  cent,  interest  on  the  money  borrowed,  and 
repayable  at  some  distant  and  unspecified  time.  This 
meant  that  all  the  Government  promised  to  the  man  who 
handed  over  a  hundred  pounds  to  it  was  that  every  year 
it  would  pay  him  two  pounds  ten,  and  that  it  would  con- 
tinue to  do  so  for  all  time,  unless  it  bought  up  the  man's 
stock  in  the  open  market  at  the  price  he  was  willing  to 
sell  it.  And  the  reason  why  the  man  was  willing  to  be  con- 
tent with  only  two  pounds  ten  interest  every  year,  when 
he  could  get  three  pounds  or  four  pounds  or  five  from  other 
governments,  was  because  he  believed  that  nothing  on  the 
solid  ground,  or  in  the  heavens  above,  or  in  the  waters 
under  the  earth,  at  least  until  the  day  of  judgment,  would 
ever  prevent  the  British  Government  from  paying  him  or 
his  heirs  two  pounds  ten  a  year;  whereas  of  other  govern- 
ments of  "foreigners"  he  was  not  so  sure.  And  because  he 
believed  also,  and  had  reasons  for  his  belief — for  he  saw  the 
transactions  going  on  round  him  every  day — that  if  at 
any  time  he  wanted  to  get  back  his  hundred  pounds,  there 
was  no  need  for  him  to  go  battering  on  the  door  of  the 
Treasury  or  the  Bank  of  England.  It  was  only  necessary 
for  him  to  sell  for  a  hundred  pounds  or  more  in  the  open 


266  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

market  the  guarantee  which  the  Government  had  given  him, 
that  is  the  right  to  draw  two  pounds  ten  a  year  from  that 
Government  until  time  was  swallowed  up  in  eternity. 

These  golden  days  are  but  a  memory  of  a  past  peace. 
The  Great  War  tore  all  such  systems  and  expectations  into 
fragments.  The  Government  found  that,  in  order  to  get 
citizens  to  lend  it  their  money  they  had  to  promise  ever 
increasing  interest;  so  that,  as  the  war  proceeded,  they 
had  to  offer  three  pounds  ten  and  then  four  pounds  ten 
and  then  nearly  six  pounds  to  be  paid  in  interest  every 
year,  before  they  could  persuade  any  one  to  lend  them  the 
money  that  they  required.  They  found  also  that  the  citizens 
were  somewhat  shaken  as  to  the  belief  of  the  repayment 
before  the  day  of  judgment,  and  that  in  order  to  persuade 
them  to  lend,  they  had  definitely  to  promise  to  pay  back 
the  hundred  pounds  itself  at  a  certain  date,  in  five  or  fifteen 
or  forty  years.  And  they  found  also — so  great  was  the 
difficulty  of  borrowing — they  had  sometimes  to  promise  to 
pay  back  more  than  they  borrowed.  So  that  the  citizen 
would  perhaps  lend  ninety-five  pounds  to  the  Government, 
and  in  return  receive  a  promise  not  only  to  get  interest 
every  year  of,  say,  four  pounds  or  five  pounds,  but  also 
to  get  when  the  appointed  day  arrived,  one  hundred  pounds 
in  return  for  his  ninety-five  pounds.  Sometimes,  indeed, 
the  whole  attraction  lay  in  the  promised  increase  of  the 
sum  lent,  with  no  interest  paid  at  all;  as,  for  example,  in 
the  so-called  War  Savings  Certificates,  when  any  man, 
woman,  or  child  could  walk  into  a  Post  Office,  and  put  down 
fifteen  and  sixpence  and  hear  no  more  of  it,  and  five  years 
after  could  walk  into  the  same  Post  Office,  and  the  Govern- 
ment would  pay  him  one  pound — a  feat  which  must  seem 
to  most  of  those  risking  it  of  the  same  order  as  the  feeding 
of  the  five  thousand,  or  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes. 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  267 

All  these  organized  borrowings  of  the  Government  in 
which  repayment  of  capital  is  only  made  after  a  long  term 
of  years,  or  is  not  definitely  promised  at  any  time  at  all, 
belong  to  the  class  that  is  known  as  the  Funded  Debt.  In 
the  old  days  these  debts  were  called  "the  Funds,"  and  when 
the  interest  on  them  was  reduced,  and  they  were  all  united 
together,  the  result  was  a  formation  of  a  united  or,  in  techni- 
cal language,  "Consolidated  Funds,"  a  title  popularly  ab- 
breviated into  the  word  "Consols."  In  the  list  published 
by  every  newspaper,  you  may  see  the  value,  the  day  be- 
fore, of  a  long  series  of  eight  to  ten  different  kinds  of 
Government  funded  debt,  which  is  the  value  put  upon  each 
by  persons  who  are  willing  to  buy  a  certain  quantity  of 
any  of  these  debts  at  the  price  announced.  As  all  the 
Government  funded  debts  equally  depend  on  the  credit  of 
the  British  Government,  and  none  of  them,  unless  specific 
promise  has  been  made  to  pay  them  back  in  full  at  a  certain 
date,  can  claim  a  greater  security  of  repayment  than  an- 
other, the  tendency  of  them  all  is  to  acquire  a  value  on 
sale  in  the  open  market  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
interest  which  can  be  obtained  by  the  buyer.  And  this 
tendency  produces  the  most  lamentable  result,  in  the  penalty 
which  is  imposed  on  the  man  who  lent  money  to  the  Govern- 
ment some  time  before  the  war,  when  borrowing  was  easy, 
and  the  advantage  given  to  the  man  who  lent  money  to  the 
Government  when  it  was  in  a  tight  place,  and  fighting  des- 
perately for  the  life  of  the  nation,  and  scarcely  knew  how 
to  find  the  necessary  funds  day  by  day.  For  in  the  former 
case  the  man  still  only  receives  two  pounds  ten  for  every 
hundred  pounds  he  lent;  and  if  he  tries  to  sell  his  promise 
of  one  hundred  pounds,  he  will  find  he  can  only  get  about 
fifty  pounds  for  it.  For  the  Government  has  not  promised 
to  repay  him  till  the  day  of  judgment;  so  that  he  has  clean 


268  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

lost  half  his  capital;  and  would  have  done  better  to  keep 
it  in  his  pocket,  like  the  man  who  wrapped  his  talent  in 
a  napkin  and  hid  it  in  the  earth,  in  the  parable.  But  in  the 
second  case  the  man,  for  one  hundred  pounds  lent,  will  re- 
ceive perhaps  five  pounds  a  year  instead  of  two  pounds  ten 
with  a  definite  promise  also  that,  however  low  the  value 
of  it  falls  in  the  open  market,  at  some  specially  named  date 
in  the  future,  he  will  get  back  the  whole  one  hundred  pounds 
again.  So  that  the  man  who  had  money  in  his  pocket  when 
the  war  began,  has  been  able  during  the  war  and  after  it 
to  have  a  very  pleasant  time. 

In  addition  to  this  funded  debt,  the  Government  has 
also  an  unfunded  debt.  The  practical  difference  between 
these  is  that,  while  the  funded  debt  is  made  up  of  money 
borrowed,  the  repayment  of  which  may  be  postponed  in- 
definitely, or  fixed  at  a  definite  future  date,  the  unfunded  or 
floating  debt,  as  it  is  called,  consists  of  a  kind  of  hand-to- 
mouth  arrangement,  by  which  the  Government  borrows  for 
a  few  months,  or  even  for  a  few  weeks  at  a  rate  of  interest 
calculated  by  months  and  weeks,  and  at  the  end  of  these 
months  or  weeks  either  pays  back  the  money  or  renews  the 
obligation.  There  is  no  essential  difference  between  borrow- 
ing by  the  Government  from  private  persons  or  companies, 
and  the  ordinary  operations  of  money  lending.  The  com- 
parison with  the  funded  debt  would  be,  if  you  went  to  a 
money-lender,  and  agreed  to  pay  him  interest  for  any  money 
he  lent  you,  and  either  pay  the  capital  back  in  so  many 
years  time,  or  not  be  obliged  to  pay  the  capital  back  at  all, 
so  long  as  you  continued  to  pay  interest.  The  comparison 
with  the  unfunded  debt  is  the  more  recognized  method  of 
money-lending,  where  you  borrow  the  money  for  a  few 
months,  paying  interest  upon  it,  and  at  the  end  either  pay 
the  money  back,  or  persuade  him  to  lend  you  the  money 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  269 

again.  This  floating  debt  is  mostly  either  borrowed  in  what 
are  called  Treasury  Bills,  or  what  are  called  Ways  and 
Means  advances  from  the  Bank  of  England.  These 
Treasury  Bills  are  mainly  "taken  up"  by  the  banks  and  the 
big  financial  companies,  who  can  thus  put  any  money  de- 
posited with  them,  or  which  they  have  on  their  hands  for 
a  time,  into  such  condition  that  the  Government  will  pay 
interest  on  it  day  and  night  while  they  are  borrowing  it, 
and  yet  they  can  get  it  back  if  they  want  it  in  very  few 
days'  time.  But  a  Government  with  an  enormous  quantity 
of  these  Bills  to  be  redeemed  or  renewed  is  in  very  much 
the  same  position  as  a  man  who  has  lent  more  than  his  in- 
come to  a  money-lender.  For  if  it  is  not  in  a  position  to 
pay  them  off,  it  has  to  be  continually  borrowing  again.  And 
if  those  who  have  lent  to  it  wish  to  use  their  money  other- 
wise, it  has  to  be  continually  coaxing  them,  or  some  alterna- 
tive money-lenders,  by  higher  rates  of  interest  or  other 
advantages — a  very  pleasant  thing  indeed  for  those  with 
money  to  lend,  but  a  very  mournful  thing  for  those  who  have 
to  pay. 

In  one  sense  it  seems  absurd  to  talk  of  the  Government 
with  a  "debt,"  and  "borrowing  money."  For  the  members 
of  the  Government  are  limited  to  a  small  number  who  may 
have  little  fortunes  or  be  poor  men.  And  even  suppose 
they  could  pledge  Government  property,  such  as  land  or 
dockyards  or  buildings  owned  by  the  Government,  that 
property,  if  sold  like  a  bankrupt  estate,  would  provide  an 
almost  negligible  dividend  on  the  total  National  Debt. 
When  we  say  that  the  Government  borrows  money,  what  we 
mean  is  that  the  British  people  as  a  whole,  through  their 
representatives,  ask  for  this  money  to  be  lent  to  them  by 
private  persons,  and  give  as  security  for  payment  of  interest 
and  ultimate  repayment  of  capital,  the  whole  value,  present 


270  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

and  future,  of  all  the  property,  private  or  public,  of  the 
British  Isles.  There  is,  indeed,  no  definite  signed  mortgage, 
such  as  that  which  would  be  given  on  a  private  borrowing 
transaction  on  security.  The  Government  issues  no  forms 
to  be  signed  by  every  citizen  before  a  loan  is  issued  that 
he  will  guarantee  his  share  of  the  burden  out  of  his  own 
property.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  a  Government  from 
refusing  to  pay  any  more  interest  on  its  debt,  or  even  re- 
pudiating its  capital,  both  of  which  have  been  solemnly 
promised  by  a  previous  Government;  and,  indeed,  such 
repudiations  have  been  frequent  in  the  history  of  many 
short-lived  revolutionary  republics,  or  when,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  confederate  bonds  issued  by  the  Southern  States  in 
America,  the  very  Government  which  promised  to  pay  has 
been  destroyed.  But  if  the  British  Houses  of  Parliament 
with  the  assent  of  the  King,  passed  a  law  tomorrow  that  not 
another  farthing  of  interest  should  be  paid  on  all  the 
National  Debt,  nor  should  the  capital  be  returned,  those 
who  had  lent  money  to  it  on  the  faith  of  its  word  would  have 
no  redress  from  it  at  all.  They  could  not,  as  in  the  case 
of  privately  contracted  debts,  go  to  any  legal  tribunal, 
such  as  the  County  Courts  or  the  High  Courts  of  Justice, 
and  ensure  that  their  money  should  be  returned  to  them. 

Two  things  only  prevent  the  carrying  through  of  such 
a  transaction  which,  however  immoral,  is  certainly  not 
illegal.  The  one  is  the  sense  of  the  wrongfulness  of  break- 
ing a  promise  solemnly  made  in  the  name  of  a  nation  to 
individuals,  even  though  that  promise  may  mean  the  pay- 
ment, by  remote  descendants  of  those  who  first  made  it, 
of  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  remote  heirs  and  descendants  of 
the  man  to  whom  it  was  first  made.  And  the  other,  and 
perhaps  more  effective,  consideration  is  a  knowledge  that 
when  once  any  Government  has  repudiated  its  debt,  no- 


OS 

p 

o 

o 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  271 

body  will  ever  be  likely  to  lend  it  money  again  for  fear  of 
a  repetition  of  the  pleasant  experiment.  It  has  put  itself 
outside  the  communion  of  civilized  nations,  and  it  can  hence- 
forth only  proceed  through  bankruptcy  to  ruin. 

In  peace  time  all  wise  Governments  attempt  to  pay  off 
the  National  Debt  by  instalments.  Every  year,  that  is  to 
say,  they  extort  from  the  taxpayer,  in  addition  to  the  money 
required  for  Government  business  service,  two  other  sub- 
stantial items — the  money  required  to  pay  the  interest  on 
the  debt  itself,  and  the  money  required  to  pay  off  a  piece  of 
the  capital  of  the  debt.  This  last  is  paid  into  what  is 
called  a  Sinking  Fund,  and  the  Sinking  Fund,  when  the 
money  is  paid  into  it,  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  Treasury,  to 
buy  up  debt  from  private  individuals  in  the  open  market 
as  cheaply  as  possible,  and  then  to  cancel  it;  just  as  you 
may  buy  up  the  promise  to  pay  from  a  money-lender  and 
be  free.  In  the  case  of  debt  which  is  not  definitely  arranged 
to  be  paid  off  at  a  certain  date,  the  Government  has  to  pay 
for  it  the  same  amount  as  the  ordinary  purchaser  in  the 
open  market.  It  has  no  means  of  compelling  the  owners  to 
sell.  And  the  result  has  been  that  at  some  time  in  the  past, 
in  trying  to  purchase  consols,  as  they  were  called,  it  had 
to  pay  as  much  as  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  or  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  pounds  for  every  one  hundred  pounds 
of  debt  thus  cancelled.  Whereas  today  it  can  buy  as  much 
of  the  same  consols  as  it  pleases  for  about  fifty  pounds 
cash  for  every  hundred  pounds'  worth  of  debt. 

In  the  days  before  the  war  there  were  two  Sinking  Funds. 
The  first,  called  the  Old  Sinking  Fund,  was  made  up  of  all 
windfalls  which  came  to  the  Treasury  whenever  in  any  year 
Government  income  exceeded  Government  expenditure. 
Thus,  if  the  taxes  had  brought  in  more  to  the  Government 
than  the  Government  had  expected  a  year  before,  or  if  the 


272  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

Government  expenses  had  proved  less,  there  would  be  a 
balance  on  the  right  side  of  many  millions.  And  when  the 
accounts  were  made  up  at  the  end  of  March  every  year 
that  balance,  if  it  existed,  could  not  be  spent  by  the  Govern- 
ment, but  "automatically,"  as  they  say,  by  law  »vent  into  the 
Old  Sinking  Fund,  and  was  used  by  the  Treasury  to  buy 
up  and  cancel  debt.  Unfortunately,  the  automatic  process 
has  very  rarely  been  carried  out,  owing  to  the  supreme  and 
unchallengeable  power  of  the  Parliament  of  the  day,  which 
can  never  be  bound  by  the  Parliament  of  yesterday.  This 
is  an  example  of  one  of  the  chief  facts  which  I  am  trying  to 
demonstrate  in  this  book;  and  it  is  rarely  recognized.  A 
Parliament,  for  example,  in  the  most  solemn  terms,  might 
pass  a  law,  say,  that  for  all  time  men  and  women  over  seventy 
should  receive  grants  of  Old  Age  Pensions.  And  the  year 
after  Parliament  might  decide  that  no  more  pensions  should 
be  given.  And  the  aged  men  and  women  could  appeal  neither 
to  the  Courts  of  Justice,  nor  to  the  Constitution,  nor  to 
any  super-Parliamentary  power  against  the  violation  of  that 
promise.  And  exactly  the  same  happened,  though  in  a  less 
generally  unjust  and  irritating  manner,  in  connexion  with 
Parliament's  decision  in  the  matter  of  the  Old  Sinking 
Fund.  Year  after  year,  whenever  a  Government  had  a 
comfortable  balance  of  this  nature,  Government  found  the 
temptation  too  great  to  divert  this  balance  from  the  Sinking 
Fund,  where  it  ought  to  have  gone,  to  meet  some  of  their 
expenses.  And  though  certain  advocates  of  pure  finance, 
and  the  maintenance  of  promises,  always  protested,  the 
electors  outside,  upon  whom  the  support  of  Government  and 
the  Members  depended,  knew  nothing  and  cared  nothing1 
about  these  things;  the  very  terms,  indeed,  being  unintel- 
ligible to  them.  So  that  instead  of  being  inclined  to  de- 
nounce what  was  called  "raiding  the  Sinking  Fund,"  they 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  273 

felt  more  inclined  to  cheer  the  sentiment  of  a  popular  ex- 
ponent of  finance,  who  declared  amid  applause:  "They  talk 
to  us  about  a  Sinking  Fund  and  a  Floating  Debt.  Gentle- 
men, what  we  want  is  a  Sinking  Debt  and  a  Floating  Fund." 

In  addition  to  these  windfalls  which  might  or  might  not 
occur  (for  many  years  the  boot  was  on  the  other  leg,  and 
there  was  a  deficit  in  the  nation's  accounts  rather  than  a 
balance),  the  New  Sinking  Fund  was  created,  into  which 
was  paid  a  fixed  sum  every  year;  twenty-eight  or  twenty- 
four  millions  raised  through  the  taxes  included  in  the  antici- 
pated estimate  of  expenditure,  and  devoted  to  debt  redemp- 
tion. This  new  Sinking  Fund  occupied  exactly  the  same 
position  as,  in  a  case  of  a  man  who  owes  money  to  another, 
the  agreement  of  the  debtor  with  or  without  legal  compul- 
sion, to  pay  off  so  much  a  week  or  a  year  until  the  debt  is 
all  gone. 

By  the  use  of  these  two  funds,  but  for  foreign  wars,  long 
ago  the  debt  would  have  been  all  gone.  I  am  not,  in  this 
book,  criticizing  the  policy  of  any  or  all  these  wars.  I  am 
merely  pointing  out  that  in  every  case  the  Government  has  to 
borrow  money  to  pay  for  them,  having  no  money  of  its 
own  adequate  to  their  cost;  and  that  money  has  to  be  ex- 
tracted from  the  pockets  of  private  persons,  who  would 
otherwise  have  it  to  use  themselves.  So  that  long  after 
the  war  is  over,  and  the  tumult  and  the  shouting  has  died, 
and  every  man  who  approved  of  it,  or  who  fought  in  it, 
has  either  vanished  from  the  world,  or  is  merely  living  as 
the  ghost  of  a  dead  past,  the  children's  children  of  those 
whose  hearts  once  beat  so  high  over  its  changing  fortunes 
of  desperate  combat,  are  engaged  in  the  dull  dreary  work 
of  paying  out  money  for  the  cost  of  it,  which  otherwise 
they  could  spend  on  their  business  or  their  pleasure.  Happy 
is  the  man  or  the  nation  which  owes  no  debt  to  others,  and 


274.  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

happy  the  time  when  the  ancient  prophetic  vision  may  be 
fulfilled:  "He  maketh  wars  to  cease  throughout  the  world; 
He  breaketh  the  sword  and  snappeth  the  spear  in  sunder, 
and  burneth  the  chariots  in  the  fire." 

The  payment  of  interest  on  National  Debt,  with  the 
repayment  of  capital  through  the  Sinking  Fund,  is  only 
one  of  the  many  requirements  of  any  Government  for  which 
it  has  to  extort  money  from  private  pockets.  The  appalling 
dimensions  to  which  that  debt  has  attained  after  five  years 
of  such  war  expenditure  as  the  world  has  never  seen,  makes 
that  repayment  overshadow  all  others.  But  if  some  phil- 
anthropist would  repay  that  debt  altogether,  the  Govern- 
ment would  still  be  compelled  to  raise  money  through  taxes 
to  carry  on  its  various  works.  It  has  to  pay  for  an  Army 
and  a  Navy,  not  only  for  the  protection  of  these  islands, 
but  to  be  used  in  the  enormous  tracts  of  land  which  has 
been  acquired  in  two  hundred  years  of  adventure  all  over 
the  globe;  to  suppress  revolts  from  those  who,  for  some 
reason,  dislike  British  rule;  and  to  defend  these  possessions 
from  attack  from  outside.  And  there  has  never  been  a 
single  year  in  which,  in  this  enterprise,  somewhere  or  other, 
some  British  soldiers  have  not  been  fighting  against  such 
revolt  or  invasion.  It  has  to  raise  money  again  for  the 
large  grants  which  it  gives  to  the  local  authorities  which 
I  have  already  described;  as,  for  example,  the  maintenance 
of  the  police,  the  carrying  out  of  a  universal  system  of  free 
elementary  education,  with  additional  grants  to  make  higher 
education  cheap,  if  not  entirely  free ;  and  the  grants  it  gives 
to  those  who  administer  the  Poor  Law  for  certain  specific 
services. 

Again,  it  has  to  raise  money  for  its  own  philanthropies, 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  275 

of  which  the  most  important  is  providing  pensions  for  the  old 
and,  at  the  moment,  giving  a  big  bonus  to  every  man  who 
builds  a  house  in  the  country,  even  if  that  house  is  built  for 
himself — a  policy  which  may  be  defensible,  and  is  defended 
by  men  of  intellect,  but  which  would  have  been  regarded  by 
our  forefathers  as  stepping  straight  out  of  a  lunatic  asylum. 
And  it  has  to  raise  money  for  the  maintenance  of  all  the 
public  departments,  with  their  servants,  who  have  to  be 
paid;  who  are  mainly  engaged  in  carrying  out  laws  which 
Parliament,  from  time  to  time,  has  commanded  them  to 
administer,  with  armies  of  inspectors  and  experts,  and  secre- 
taries and  clerks,  who  are  supposed  to  be  encouraging  the 
people  to  walk  in  the  way  of  happiness,  health,  and  virtue, 
and  to  discourage  the  forces  which  make  for  disease  and  vice 
and  crime.  And,  finally,  like  the  dog  who  has  to  feed  on  his 
own  tail,  it  has  to  raise  money  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
going  the  machine  of  raising  money ;  unnecessary,  perhaps, 
in  a  perfect  state,  where  every  individual  would  hasten  to 
pour  into  the  Treasury,  before  even  he  is  asked,  any  amount 
which  is  demanded  of  him  for  public  services ;  very  necessary 
in  the  present  imperfect  condition  of  human  nature,  where, 
first,  the  man  has  to  be  informed  what  taxes  he  is  compelled 
to  pay,  and  secondly,  this  money  has  to  be  squeezed  out  of 
him;  and  thirdly,  he  has  to  be  prosecuted  and  otherwise 
tormented  until  he  has  responded  to  the  squeeze. 

Practically  all  this  money  is  raised  by  taxes,  and  these 
taxes  are  too  various  to  be  described  in  detail.  They  may 
be  first  roughly  divided  into  two  classes.  There  is  the  class 
which  is  called  "direct  taxes,"  in  which  the  general  principle 
corresponds  to  the  naked  action  of  the  highwayman.  Only, 
while  the  individual  brigand  says:  "Your  money  or  your 


276  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

life,"  the  Government  says:  "Your  money,  or  fine  and  im- 
prisonment or  sale  of  your  goods  to  pay  for  its  demand." 
This  is  an  intelligible  method,  if  a  distressing  one — honest, 
defiant,  uncompromising. 

The  second  is  that  of  indirect  taxes,  where  you  are  fleeced 
without  your  knowing  it.  These  arrange  that  you  shall  only 
be  able  to  buy  certain  commodities  on  condition  that  either 
you  in  buying  them,  or  those  who  sell  them  to  you,  shall 
pay  a  certain  amount  of  money,  in  proportion  to  the  quan- 
tity that  you  buy,  to  the  taxes  of  the  country. 

The  system  seems  at  first  sight  quite  absurd;  because, 
first,  why  should  you  only  be  allowed  to  buy  some  things 
on  condition  you  pay  a  tax  on  their  purchase,  while  other 
things  very  similar  you  are  allowed  to  buy  without  any  tax 
at  all?  For  example,  at  one  time  you  were  allowed  to  buy 
potatoes  without  a  tax,  but  if  you  wanted  to  buy  bread, 
you  had  to  pay  a  tax  on  it.  And  yet  there  seems  to  be  no 
particular  virtue  in  potatoes,  or  vice  in  bread,  which  should 
penalize  you  in  buying  one,  and  let  you  off  in  buying  the 
other. 

And  secondly,  these  indirect  taxes  bear  .  no  kind  of 
proportion  to  the  income  of  the  family,  and,  indeed,  put  a 
special  penalty  on  the  poor  and  persons  with  large  families. 
So  that  in  one  case,  in  direct  taxation  such  as  an  income  tax, 
abatements  and  allowances  are  made  for  a  large  family, 
and  a  man  who  has  many  children  pays  less  income  tax  than 
a  man  who  has  none.  In  the  other  case,  if  a  man  has  to  pay 
taxes  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of,  say,  tea  or  sugar 
or  bread  that  his  family  consume,  the  larger  his  family  the 
more  he  has  to  pay,  because  the  more  of  this  stuff  is  required. 
And  while  the  bachelor  may  kick  his  heels  lightly,  and  re- 
joice that  he  is  escaping  taxation,  the  man  with  the  same 
income  and  an  extra  large  family  not  only  has  to  pay  more 


277 

for  the  support  of  his  family  to  landlord  and  tradesman, 
but  more,  in  addition,  to  the  Government  of  the  State,  be- 
cause the  Government  will  not  let  him  buy  the  commodities 
his  family  needs  without  paying  it  so  much  for  every 
pound  he  buys  as  a  condition  of  buying  them.  And  Govern- 
ment arranges  a  most  elaborate  and  costly  apparatus  of 
men,  guarding  all  the  ports  of  the  country,  and  examining 
warehouses  and  factories  inland,  to  see  that  he  shall  not, 
under  any  circumstances,  get  a  pennyweight  of  any  of  these 
things  except  there  shall  first  be  paid  to  the  Government 
the  money  due  on  these  things  before  he  buys  them. 

And  a  third  argument  against  this  indirect  taxation  is 
that  if  they  are  imposed  on  certain  commodities,  any  one 
who  has  intelligence  and  vigour  enough  to  buy  similar  com- 
modities which  are  not  subject  to  these  taxes  can  escape 
them  altogether,  and  thus  evade  the  payment  to  the  State 
which  his  neighbour  contributed.  As,  for  example,  in  the 
case  I  have  already  mentioned,  at  the  time  when  there  is 
a  tax  on  bread,  if  a  man,  in  a  desire  to  evade  the  extortions 
of  the  Government,  is  content  to  live  on  potatoes,  carrots, 
cauliflowers,  and  the  like,  he  can  snap  his  finger  at  the 
Government,  being  legally  evading  the  taxation  which  is 
designed  to  be  imposed  upon  him.  Whereas  his  neighbour, 
who  is  less  enterprising,  and  maintains  a  diet  of  bread,  will 
be  paying  contributions  to  the  State  all  the  more  increased 
in  quantity  because  the  vegetable  eater  has  dodged  his  share. 

Considerations  such  as  these  have  led  many  wise  men 
altogether  to  condemn  this  system  of  indirect  taxation, 
and  to  recommend  that  money  raised  shall  only  be  done  by 
the  Government  by  taxes  on  income  itself,  with  or  without 
rebatements  for  wives  and  families.  Governments,  however, 
are  always  favourably  inclined  to  indirect  taxation  for  the 
special  reasons  that  the  majority  of  mankind  so  little  under- 


278  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

stand  these  questions  as  to  be  quite  unaware  of  the  fact  that 
when  they  buy  an  article  thus  taxed,  they  are  paying  this 
contribution  to  the  Government.  If  they  buy,  for  example, 
a  packet  of  tea,  and  the  cost  rises  because  tea  is  taxed,  they 
think  that  it  is  the  grocer  that  is  swindling  them,  or  the 
tea-merchant  that  wants  more  money,  or  the  man  who  is 
growing  tea  in  China  or  Ceylon  who  is  trying,  and  success- 
fully, to  rob  them  of  an  increased  amount.  And  they  are 
so  far  justified  in  this  belief  by  the  fact  that  in  the  cost 
of  such  a  thing  as  tea,  perhaps  a  dozen  other  elements  enter 
into  calculation  besides  the  Government  impost.  So  that, 
for  example,  if  you  had  a  good  tea  harvest,  while  the  Govern- 
ment tax  increased,  the  price  of  tea  might  go  down  instead 
of  up,  and  every  one  might  say:  "Great  is  the  Government. 
By  putting  a  tax  on  tea  they  have  reduced  the  price  of  it." 

The  only  way  that  indirect  taxation  could  be  made  as 
unpopular  as  direct,  would  be  by  the  method  which  demon- 
strated to  every  one  what  really  happened;  if,  for  example, 
the  tax  was  levied  in  such  a  form  as  that  the  purchaser  who 
desired  to  buy  a  pound  of  tea  should,  first,  have  to  go  to  a 
Government  office  and  pay  so  many  pennies  for  a  "permit" 
to  buy  it  at  its  market  price  untaxed;  or  if  at  the  grocer's 
itself  you  saw  two  notices,  say  (for  example),  "Tea,  Is.  4d.," 
"Government  Tax,  8d.,"  and  the  purchaser  was  only  allowed 
to  get  the  tea  at  Is.  4d.  on  the  condition  he  pays'  8d.  to 
the  Government,  in  a  kind  of  Government  money-box  on  the 
counter.  If  such  a  system  were  established,  it  is  probable 
that  no  Government  could  maintain  indirect  taxation  for 
twenty-four  hours.  In  the  absence  of  such  a  revelation  of 
the  truth,  the  British,  like  every  other  Government,  obtains 
a  substantial  revenue  from  this  source. 

These  indirect  taxes  vary  from  time  to  time.  The  great 
bulk  are  provided  by  taxing  what  are  supposed  to  be  the 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  279 

two  great  luxuries  of  the  masses  of  the  people — tobacco, 
and  liquors  containing  alcohol.  There  are  also  indirect 
taxes  on  tea,  sugar,  coffee,  and  cocoa,  and  there  have  been 
taxes  on  wheat  and  flour  and  other  cereal  substances. 

Each  year  Parliament  decides  in  the  Budget  how  much 
tax  shall  be  levied  as  a  condition  of  the  sale  of  so  much 
of  each  taxable  commodity;  so  much,  say,  on  a  gallon  of 
whisky,  or  a  barrel  of  beer,  or  a  pound  of  tea,  or  a  hundred- 
weight of  sugar.  And  the  tax  is  imposed  from  a  certain 
date  named  by  Parliament,  and  continues  to  a  certain  date 
about  a  year  afterwards,  unless  Parliament  decides  to  alter 
or  remove  it. 

People  talk  roughly  of  a  tax  on  sugar,  or  a  tax  on  beer, 
or  a  tax  on  tea,  but  of  course  beer  and  tea  and  sugar  are 
dead  things,  and  have  no  power  of  paying  money  at  all. 
What  is  meant  is  that  before,  say,  the  barrel  of  beer  can 
be  taken  out  of  the  cellar  where  it  is  stored  to  be  sold  to 
the  public,  the  owner  of  the  barrel  has  to  pay  so  much 
to  the  Government  as  a  condition  of  taking  it  out ;  and  if 
he  does  not  pay  he  either  cannot  take  it  out  at  all,  or  he 
will  be  prosecuted  for  taking  it  out  without  having  paid 
that  amount  to  the  Government.  He  is  supposed  to  get 
the  amount  back  by  spreading  the  charge  he  has  paid  in 
small  amounts  upon  every  glass  of  beer  which  is  drunk  from 
that  barrel.  Some  say  he  always  does  so,  and  others  argue 
otherwise.  But  no  one  doubts  that  he  will  do  so  if  he  can. 

These  taxes  are  collected  by  the  Department  of  Customs 
and  Excise.  The  Customs  waylay  the  trader  as  he  enters 
the  ports,  and  hold  up  articles  which  are  being  brought  in 
upon  which  a  legal  duty  (i.  e.  tax)  is  paid  until  the  trader 
pays  the  money  for  the  right  to  sell  it.  There  are  many 
ways  of  thus  paying  the  amount  required.  The  trader  may 
have  the  stuff  on  his  ship,  pay  a  cheque  for  the  amount 


280  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

required,  and  then  sell  it  freely  as  he  pleases.  Or  he  may 
place  his  goods  in  what  is  called  a  bonded  warehouse,  from 
which  nothing  can  be  removed  until  the  tax  is  paid.  But 
when  it  is  so  paid,  the  goods  are  "taken  out  of  bond,"  and 
after  that  may  pass  through  perhaps  a  dozen  hands  of 
merchants  and  shopkeepers  without  having  to  pay  another 
tax.  In  the  old  days,  when  duties  were  much  higher  on 
many  more  articles,  people  endeavoured  to  evade  paying 
them  by  smuggling.  Cargoes  of  French  laces  or  Holland 
gin  were  landed  at  stray  places  on  the  coast,  and  swiftly 
taken  inland  to  evade  the  "preventive  men"  who  were  end- 
lessly watching  them.  But  today,  with  every  ship  charted, 
and  the  use  of  the  wireless  and  telephone,  such  smuggling 
into  England  is  almost  extinct,  although  it  takes  place  on 
the  borders  of  countries  abroad.  There  are  Customs  Officers 
at  every  port  examining  the  bills  of  lading,  that  is,  the  list 
of  the  goods  of  all  sorts  that  the  vessel  contains,  and  with 
a  right  to  examine  the  cargoes  also ;  and  by  these  means 
the  legal  revenue  is  obtained  from  foreign  imported  goods. 

The  Excise  collects  the  similar  Government  revenue  from 
the  articles  upon  which  similar  taxes  are  laid  which  are 
made  in  this  country.  There  are  officials  all  over  this 
country  who  have  to  see  that  none  of  these  goods  are  made 
and  sold  without  the  appropriate  "excise"  duty  being  paid 
on  them,  and  similar  bonded  warehouses  where  goods  are 
stored,  and  a  similar  process  of  "taking  out  of  bond"  is 
carried  through. 

The  ordinary  method  of  the  Government  taxes  is  to  pro- 
vide equal  amounts  of  taxation  in  customs  and  excise  on  the 
same  amount  of  the  article.  Thus,  the  same  amount  will 
be  paid  on  whisky  entering  through  a  London  port  through 
the  Customs  as  on  the  same  amount  of  whisky  distilled  in 
the  Scottish  Highlands.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  281 

while  there  are  many  articles  on  which  customs  are  levied 
but  no  excise,  because  they  are  not  produced  in  this  country 
at  all,  such  as  tea  and  tobacco,  there  are  no  articles  on 
which  excise  is  levied  with  no  customs.  When  a  customs 
duty  is  put  on  an  article  which  is  produced  in  this  country, 
with  no  similar  excise  duty,  or  with  a  lower  similar  excise 
duty,  the  system  is  called  "protective  taxation,"  because 
it  "protects"  that  article,  or  in  other  words  gives  an  ad- 
vantage to  the  people  who  make  it  in  this  country  over  the 
people  who  make  it  abroad.  And  whether  or  no  a  Govern- 
ment should  levy  such  protective  taxes,  or  on  what  article 
it  should  levy  them,  has  been  a  subject  of  violent  contro- 
versy for  the  past  two  hundred  years  all  over  the  world,  and 
seems  likely  to  excite  similar  controversy  for  at  least  an 
equal  time  to  come. 

Direct  taxation,  that  is,  the  sums  levied  on  men  directly, 
and  not  on  permission  to  sell  goods,  is  collected  by  the 
Inland  Revenue  which  occupies  Somerset  House,  the  huge 
building  which  was  once  a  Royal  palace,  stretching  enormous 
along  the  banks  of  the  river,  judging  and  condemning  most 
of  the  modern  architecture  round  it.  This  Board  of  In- 
land Revenue  has  also  branches  all  over  the  country  where 
the  taxes  are  collected  locally.  Every  one  with  more  than 
a  certain  income  pays  income  tax,  more  or  less  in  pro- 
portion to  that  income,  though  with  such  a  variety  of 
"abatements"  on  the  one  hand  for  such  things  as  wife,  child, 
or  life  insurance,  and  increases  on  the  other  in  a  super-tax 
more  and  more  steeply  the  greater  the  fortune,  as  would 
require  for  full  explanation  a  volume  at  least  the  size  of 
this  book.  Generally  it  may  be  summarized  that  the  pre- 
vailing idea  is  that  men  with  small  incomes  and  large  family 
expenses  shall  find  the  wind  tempered  to  the  shorn  lamb, 


282  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

whereas  the  men  with  large  fortunes  shall  pay,  not  in  direct 
proportion  to  the  amount  paid  by  men  with  small,  but  at  a 
continually  increasing  rate  of  payment,  leaping  up  as  their 
fortunes  leap  above  certain  standard  figures. 

The  second  great  series  of  direct  taxes  are  the  Death 
Duties.  These  also  are  rather  complicated  in  character, 
split  up  into  legacy  duty,  estate  duty,  and  others.  But 
in  general  they  may  be  described  as  attempts  to  intercept 
on  the  death  of  the  owner  of  any  property  or  fortune,  a 
certain  part  of  that  property  before  it  passes  to  his  heirs 
or  descendants.  And  here  also  the  principle  of  graduation 
is  maintained,  and  the  larger  the  fortune  the  greater  the 
proportion  to  be  paid  upon  it  by  these  heirs  and  descendants 
to  the  estate  before  they  are  allowed  to  receive  what  remains. 
These  also  are  collected  by  the  Inland  Revenue,  which  keeps 
a  wary  eye  on  every  rich  man  dying,  or  likely  to  die,  with 
a  view  to  death  duties;  and  greatly  rejoices  when  the  sudden 
decease  of  some  millionaire  provides  an  enormous  accession 
to  its  revenue.  But  it  is  also  fair  to  say  that  it  keeps  an 
equally  vigilant  eye  on  the  rich  men  who  are  alive  and 
flourishing,  with  a  view  to  extracting  every  legal  farthing 
from  them  in  income  tax  and  super  tax.  So  that  the  re- 
joicing of  the  department  that  deals  with  death  in  such 
unfortunate  occurrence  is  tempered  by  the  sadness  of  the 
department  that  deals  with  life,  and  recognizes  that  when 
its  body-snatching  colleagues  have  taken,  say,  forty  per 
cent,  out  of  a  fortune  passing  at  death,  they  have  forty  per 
cent,  less  income  from  which  to  extract  income  tax  in  the 
future. 

There  are  many  other  direct  taxes,  some  survivals  of  the 
past,  like  the  old  Land  Tax;  some  temporary  and  appro- 
priate to  the  war,  like  the  Excess  Profits  Tax ;  others  raising1 
money  by  licenses  on  what  are  regarded  as  luxuries,  such 


HOW  AND  WHAT  HE  PAYS  FOR  283 

as  the  keeping  of  men-servants,  the  use  of  crests  and 
armourial  bearings,  the  use  of  sporting  rifles,  the  right  to 
brew  and  sell  alcoholic  liquors,  and  the  right  to  keep  a  dog. 
All  these  together,  however,  form  but  a  small  part  of  the 
revenue  of  the  country,  and  are  of  little  interest  except  to 
those  who  pay  them.  The  three  great  mainstays  of  the 
revenue  required  by  the  Central  Government  of  England 
are  the  taxes  on  the  incomes  of  all  except  the  poor,  the 
taxes  on  the  property  that  passes  at  death,  except  that  of 
the  poor,  and  the  taxes  on  certain  commodities  in  general 
use  by  the  rich  and  poor  alike. 


CHAPTER     XVI 
CONCLUSION 

Here,  then,  in  outline — not  in  description  of  theory,  but 
in  actual  working — is  the  Government  of  England. 

In  discussion  or  criticism  two  things  must  always  be 
remembered.  The  first  is  that  this  present  system  inherits 
from  an  unbroken  tradition  of  successive  centuries  and 
swings  back  into  foundations  laid  in  an  entirely  different 
society.  It  is  true  that  the  organizations  thus  transmitted 
from  one  generation  to  another  have  been  from  time  to 
time  pulled  about,  modified,  relieved  of  some  functions, 
changed  with  others,  adjusted  to  fresh  conditions.  But 
there  has  never  been  a  clean,  new  start,  never  a  revolution 
with  a  proclamation  of  a  "Year  One" ;  never  such  fashioning 
in  a  few  weeks  as  that  performed  by  Napoleon  in  the  creation 
of  the  Code  which  still  rules  France  today. 

The  Parliamentary  debate  is  a  literal  continuation,  with 
but  slight  modifications,  of  procedure  of  the  debates  which 
assailed  Charles  I's  Government  and  were  found  by  Oliver 
Cromwell  too  tedious  to  be  endured.  The  Assize  Judges 
inherit  direct  from  Henry  I,  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  traces 
his  spiritual  ancestry  to  Edward  III.  He  may  be  a  small 
baker  in  an  obscure  street  of  a  provincial  town  or  village. 
But  he  inherits  today  the  old  traditions  unbroken,  and 
performs  many  of  the  old  functions  which  were  once  the 
mark  of  semi-independent  owners  of  great  lands  and  terri- 
tories. The  Cabinet,  which  is  the  dominant  Government 

284 


CONCLUSION  285 

of  the  day,  is  only  a  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  that 
is,  the  secret  Council  of  the  King,  which  he  appointed  once 
to  advise  him  on  points  of  policy;  which  he  would  then 
carry  out,  often  in  defiance  of  any  other  man's  will.  The 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  inhabiting  a  palace  eight  hun- 
dred years  old,  still  takes  precedence  over  any  other  of  the 
King's  subjects  as  a  survival  of  a  time  when  he  represented 
the  united  religion  of  every  person  in  the  country ;  when 
that  religion  could  appeal  to  an  international  Court  and 
authority  against  the  acts  of  kings  and  emperors,  and  when 
religion  and  the  power  of  its  officers  was  much  the  most 
important  thing  in  the  world.  The  drab  Town  Council, 
with  its  plain-coated  members,  or  the  picturesque  Town 
Council,  with  its  red-robed  aldermen  and  decorated  mayor 
and  great  gold  chain  of  office,  are  alike  descendants  from  the 
days  when  the  little  towns,  gathered  together  for  protection, 
could  shine  out  like  little  lamps  amid  the  darkness  and  con- 
fusion of  encompassing  forests  and  marshes.  Even  the 
very  humdrum  Guardians  of  the  Poor,  in  their  queer,  plain 
white-washed  offices,  can  trace  an  unbroken  line  back  to  the 
days  of  great  Elizabeth,  when  the  principle  was  first  de- 
fiantly established  that  no  English  parish,  so  long  as  it 
retained  any  possession  at  all,  should  allow  any  of  its 
members  to  perish  from  hunger  and  cold. 

And  the  second  point  to  remember  is  that  this  continued 
modification  of  ancient  institutions  has  by  no  means  reached 
finality  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1921.  What  I  have  been 
describing  in  these  pages  is  but  a  cross  section  of  a  process 
of  ever-hurrying  change.  The  change  may  be  for  good  or 
for  evil.  There  are  many  always  who  are  moved  to  cry  out : 
"Cannot  we  at  last  agree  that  we  have  reached  stability? 
Cannot  we  settle  down  now  to  work  our  institutions  instead 
of  being  continually  impelled  to  pull  them  up  by  the  roots 


286  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

and  produce  alteration  and  disturbance?"  Many  of  these 
rail  against  individuals  or  organized  parties  which  seem  to 
them  to  be  creating  unsettlement. 

But  it  is  not  individuals  and  organized  parties  who  are 
responsible  for  unsettlement.  It  is  the  inexorable  and 
adamantine  law  of  a  universe  which  has  been  constructed 
not  as  a  region  of  rest  but  as  a  region  of  change. 

"Time  like  an  ever-rolling  stream,"  not  only,  as  the  poet 
declares,  "bears  all  its  sons  away."  It  also  bears  away 
everything  created  by  its  sons — the  thoughts,  the  dreams, 
the  ideals,  the  forms  of  government,  the  very  physical 
habitations  of  men.  Humanity  can  neither  set  out  on  a 
fresh  start  regardless  of  the  past  nor  declare  that  the  past 
shall  remain  unaltered.  The  first  case  has  been  tried  in 
many  revolutions,  and  always  the  past  has  crashed  back 
again,  refusing  to  be  extruded  from  life,  and  revealing  still 
the  domination  of  the  living  by  the  dead.  The  second  case 
has  been  tried  by  many  benevolent  autocracies  who  think 
they  have  reached  conditions  of  stability  and  equilibrium. 
But  the  little  seeds  of  change  have  worked  their  way  through 
the  darkness  without  any  definite  human  encouragement; 
and  after  a  time  it  is  found  they  have  upheaved  the  smooth 
pavement  or  brought  the  mighty  building  into  dust. 

The  institutions  of  England  work.  That  is  their  chief 
justification.  There  is  no  logical  perfection  about  them. 
There  are  a  thousand  faults  and  anomalies  within  them. 
Nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  poke  fun  at  them.  And  indeed 
they  have  always  been  the  objects  of  scorn  and  laughter  of 
the  satirist  and  cynic,  from  the  day  of  Shakespeare's  un- 
dying description  of  Mr.  Justice  Shallow  or  Dogberry  and 
his  watch,  to  the  day  when  such  pleasant  writers  as  Mr. 
Chesterton  and  Mr.  Belloc  can  describe,  in  less  genial  fashion, 
the  corruption  and  futility  of  the  Government  of  England. 


CONCLUSION  287 

You  may  make  as  many  criticisms  as  you  please  of  the 
dreary  and  almost  farcical  drip  of  Parliamentary  de- 
bate, of  the  influences  so  far  from  ideal  or  disinterested 
that  move  public  men  to  action,  of  the  futile  pomposity  of 
local  councillors  and  their  wives,  of  the  grotesque  folly  of 
a  system  which  chooses  judges  from  successful  advocates 
who  receive  large  fees  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice. 

But  under  such  a  queer,  complicated  arrangement,  main- 
tained with  all  the  queer,  complicated  motives  which  fill  the 
lives  of  men,  you  have  a  system  which  gets  so  many  millions 
of  men  and  women  and  children  out  of  their  beds  in  the 
morning  and  engaged  in  something  like  work  sufficient  to 
maintain  them  during  the  day,  and  at  night  returning  to 
sleep  without  any  profound  sense  of  fury  that  they  have 
been  treated  with  fundamental  injustice,  or  that  the  oppres- 
sions they  suffer  from  Local  or  Central  Government  are  too 
intolerable  to  be  endured. 

It  is  the  absence  of  this  feeling  alone  that  preserves 
present  Society  in  being.  The  universal  growth  of  this 
feeling  would  shatter  Kings,  Constitutions,  Parliaments, 
Governments,  however  much  backed  by  the  apparatus  of 
suppression  or  terror.  If  the  people  as  a  whole  thought 
at  any  time  that  redress  for  individual  injuries  could  not 
honestly  be  obtained  in  the  Courts  of  Law,  or  that  the  Local 
Government  or  the  Central  Government  would  impose  upon 
them  taxations  and  inequalities  against  which  they  could 
appeal  to  God  but  never  to  man,  the  country  in  such  a 
state  would  be  fast  hastening  to  calamity  or  revolution. 

It  is  a  magnificent  platitude  which  it  has  taken  the  world 
thousands  of  years  to  learn,  which  is  always  being  forgotten 
in  the  progress  of  human  folly  and  has  to  be  learnt  again 
in  fire  and  blood,  that  Government  can  only  rest  on  the 
consent  of  the  governed. 


288  HOW  ENGLAND  IS  GOVERNED 

We  can  look  for  continual  improvement;  not  without 
many  reactions  and  disappointments.  The  history  of  the 
progress  from  the  past  gives  great  hope  of  a  better  future. 
The  Town  has  arisen  into  newer  and  cleaner  life  from  the 
corruptions  and  squalors  of  its  previous  condition.  Parlia- 
ment today  is  a  gathering  of  representatives  of  all  classes 
of  the  people,  freely  chosen  by  the  electors  of  all  classes. 
A  vast  apparatus  of  the  education  of  boys  and  girls,  and, 
later,  men  and  women,  is  creating  literally  a  new  race;  for 
the  first  time  possessing  the  equipment  to  take  intelligent 
interest  in  the  conduct  of  human  Society.  To  this  equip- 
ment must  be  added  desire.  Given  that  desire  in  an  educated 
Democracy,  and  there  is  no  limit  to  the  improvement  of  the 
world.  That  experiment  has  never  yet  been  tried  on  the 
solid  earth.  The  Greek  and  Roman  civilization  rested  on 
a  basis  of  slave  labour.  The  Greek  Democracy  had  no 
real  claim  to  be  called  a  government  of  universal  free 
citizens.  Today  the  experiment  is  being  attempted,  for  the 
first  time,  of  establishing  a  community  in  which  each  man 
and  woman  is  a  citizen  and  every  man  and  woman  free. 
Those  who  criticize  the  first  results  of  so  amazing  an  enter- 
prise may  be  urged  to  a  little  patience.  The  time  has  been 
so  short,  the  issues  so  confused,  the  inheritance  of  bad  things 
or  dead  things  from  the  past  so  hard  to  remove,  that  it  is 
difficult  even  now  to  realize  that  the  new  start  has  begun. 

More  and  more,  with  each  generation  pressing  into  the 
great  adventure,  will  this  new  spirit  be  working.  More  and 
more  will  the  rulers  of  men  find  themselves  responsible  to  a 
community  which  will  be  indifferent  to  fine  phrases,  birth  or 
wealth,  assertion  of  power,  or  anything  but  the  revelation  of 
honest  service  for  the  communal  welfare. 

Institutions  may  fade  and  change.  The  processes  may 
fill  the  air  with  the  noise  of  violent  controversy.  Some  will 


CONCLUSION  289 

die  "not  having  seen  the  promises."  Others  will  die  doubt- 
ing if  any  "promises"  will  ever  be  seen.  But  the  work 
continues :  towards  the  triumph  of  intelligence  over  disorder, 
and  of  compassion  over  hatred  and  disdain.  The  people 
are  not  wandering  aimlessly  in  the  wilderness,  but  set  on 
a  journey  towards  an  end.  That  end  implies  Government 
as  a  complete  fulfilment  of  the  popular  will,  and  popular 
will  as  finding  complete  expression  in  Government — in  a 
community  where  the  interests  of  each  is  identical  with  the 
interests  of  all ;  in  a  new  earth,  if  not  a  new  heaven,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness. 


INDEX 


Ashley,  Prof.,  on  Government,  xiii 

Bank  of  England,  239  et  »q. 
Beaconsfield,    Benjamin    Disraeli, 

Earl  of,  56,    138 
Belloc,   Hilaire,  286 
Boroughs,  54 

Canterbury,  Archbishop  of,  283 

Cenotaph,  The,  207 

Chamberlain,  M.P.,  Joseph,  75,  138 

Charles  I,  204,  205,  207,  284 

Chesterton,  G.  K.,  48,  286 

Child  and  the  Law,  The,  1  «t  tq., 

168 

Churchill,    Lord    Randolph,   229 
Cobbett,   William,    143 
Coke,   Sir    Edward,    180 
Coroner,  185,  191  et  »q. 
Councils,    County,    50,    141 

Election  of,  154 

Its  duties,  11,  155 

Elections  of,  154  et  »q. 

and  the  Landed  Classes,  157 
Council,   London    County,    65,    72, 
154 

Creation  of,  143 

Its   limited   area,   145 

and  the  London  Borough  Coun- 
cils, 146  et  tq. 

Its    Elections    and   powers,    148 

et  iq. 
Councils,  Town,  67   et  tq. 


Councils,  Town — 

Mayor  and  Councillors,  68  et  sq. 

76   et  tq. 
Town   Clerk,  73 
Acts,     Health,     Adoptive     and 

Special,  73  et  tq. 
Composition  of,  75  et  tq. 
Working  of,  80  et  tq. 
Statutory  Committees,  81  et  sq. 
Function  of,  83  et  sq.,  285 
Prevention  of  disease,  85  et  sq. 
Responsibility  for  food,  87-8 
Provisions  of  luxuries,  87  et  sq., 

131 

Municipal  Trading,  94  et  sq. 
Its  responsibilities,  105  et  sq. 
Passing  of  Private  Bills,  105  et 

tq. 

Rates  and  Income,  115  et  tq. 
Council,    Urban    and    Rural    Dis- 
trict, 65,  159 
Elections,  159 
Their    duties,   160    et   sq. 
Courtney,  Lord,  his  working  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  King- 
dom, xiii 

Courts  of  Justice,  175,  270 
Petty    Sessions,    176    et    tq. 
Quarter   Sessions,   182-3 
High   Court,   184   et  tq. 
Court  of  Appeal,  185-6 
Trial  by  Jury,  185,  189  et  tq. 
Court  of   Chancery,    188-189 


291 


292 


INDEX 


The  Coroner,  his  duties,  192-193 
Common  and  Statute  Law,  195- 

196 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  205,  207,  284 

Disraeli,  see  Beaconsfield 
Dolling,  Father,   102 

Education    Act    (1902),    64 
Education,   Board   of,  85 
Elections,  Parliamentary,  11  et  sq. 

Public  Notices  of,  22  et  sq. 

Canvassing,  23  et  sq. 

Nomination    of    Candidates,    26 
et  sq. 

Polling,  29  et  sq. 

Counting,  35  et  sq. 

Scrutiny,  39  et   sq. 
Explanatory  Notes,  xi.  et  sq. 

Fawkes,   Guy,   205 

George,  Right  Hon.  D.  Lloyd,  138, 

217,  257 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  56,  138,  229 
Guardians,  Board  of,  59,  121,  133, 
161,  166  et  sq.,  168 

Election  of,  18,  166,  168 

Poor  Rate,  50,  121 

and  Workhouses,  59,  170 

Their  duties,  166  et  sq. 

Committees,  169 

Hammond,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  on  "The 
Town  and  Country  Labourer," 
xiii 

Hastings,   Warren,   204 

Hirst,  Francis,  his  "Local  Gov- 
ernment in  England"  xiii. 

Housing,  152,  196 

Income  Tax  115,  118  et  sq.,  127 


Insurance,  7,  8 

Jessop,  Dr.,  163 

Jury,  see  Justice,  Courts  of 

Justice,  see  Courts  of  Justice 

Local  Authorities,  History  of,  47 

et  sq. 

Local  Government  Act  (1888),  65 
Local  Government  Board,  see  Min- 
istry of  Health. 
London,  its  growth,  141  et  sq. 
City  of,  144 
Docks,    1461 

County  Council,  see  Council 
Low,  Sir  Sidney,  xiii 
Lowe  Robert,  88 

Lowell,  Prof.,  his  Government  of 
England,  xiii.,  Ill 

Members  of  Parliament,  see  Elec- 
tions and  Parliament 

Ministry  of  Health  (Central 
Authority),  49,  63,  71,  85,  100, 
134,  161,  166,  169  et  sq. 

Municipal  Corporation  Act  (1865), 
160,  161  et  sq. 

National  Debt,  see  Parliament 

Parliament,  Houses  of,  199  et  sq. 
House   of  Lords,  203,  210,   252 
House    of    Commons,    Arrange- 
ment of,  200  et  sq. 
The  Speaker,  201  et  sq.,  220 
King  and,  203,  215,  219,  252,  270 
Its  Members,  204,  252 
The  Cabinet,  205,  228-9,  284 
Duties  of,  207   et  sq. 
Opposition,  209,  254  et  sq. 
Debates,  211,  219,  255  et  sq. 
Functions  of,  214,  288  et  sq. 


INDEX 


293 


Representation,  ib. 

Redressing  of  Grievances,  ib. 

Procedure,  219  et  »q. 

Finance  and  Control  of  Expendi- 
ture, 226  et  sq. 

Estimates,  232  et  sq. 

Appropriation  Bill,  239  et  sq. 

Making  of  Laws,  246  et  sq. 

Introducing  of  Bills,  ib. 

Closure,  252,  261 

National  Debt,  264  et  sq. 

War   Loans,   265-6 

Funded  and  Unfunded  Debt,  266 
>•/  sq. 

Sinking  Funds,  271  et  sq. 
Parish  Councils,  50,  141,  163,  164 
Parish  Council  Act   (1894),  65 
Parishes,  54,  164  et  tq. 
Poor  Law  (Elizabethan),  54-5,  59, 

121,   123,   166 

Poor  Law  (1834),  54,  59,  121 
Public    Health    Acts     (1848),    63 

(1875),  63,  86,  100 
Pym,  John,  204 

Quakers,  194 

Rates  and  Income,  113  et  sq.,  150 
Redlich,  J.,  his  "Local  Government 

in  England,"  xiii.,  Ill 
Reform  Bill   (1832),  55-6,  61 


Rent  Restriction  Act,  n  131 
Russell,  Lord,  103 

School  Board,  50 
Shakespeare,  181 
Shires,   52,   57,   65 
Strafford,  Lord,  204,  216 

Taxation,  136  et  sq.,  275  et  sq. 

Votes,  Parliamentary,  age  for  ac- 
quiring, 10,  55-6 

Method  of  making  the  Register 
for,  10  et  sq. 

Removals  from  one  district  to 
another,  12  et  sq. 

Town  and  Local  Councils,  17  et 
sq.,  21 

Women  and,  18  et  sq.,  55 

Plural  Voting,  19,  20 

University,  20 

Polling,  28  et  sq. 

Personation,  33  et  sq. 

Doubtful,  36-7 

Secrecy  of,  40-1 

Webb,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney,  "The 
History  of  Local  Govern- 
ment," xiii. 

Workhouses,  see  Guardians 


